


Even More Blight

by Valyrienne



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, c/w: depression, c/w: ptsd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-18 05:27:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12381816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valyrienne/pseuds/Valyrienne
Summary: The Hero of Ferelden found herself in a position to be able to help her home yet again. Skyhold called, the King of Ferelden answered, and Warden Mahariel showed up in the dark morning to the Inquisitor's delight. She found old friends, and began to make new.(I love self indulgence and tragic Wardens, and lighthearted fics that become tragic)





	1. Too Much Talking.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is currently being edited further. May update the whole lot, plus another chapter, soon.

Valaena wished she hadn't answered the summons to Skyhold. There were too many people, the keep was always buzzing with conversation. She hated it. She despised the constant speculation of a Blight, or Blight related things. She had done everything, near enough given her life to save Ferelden, and the fucking Blight was still on everyone's lips, in the worst of ways. Here she was, a Hero, saviour of Ferelden, and she was too scared to attend anything.  
The constant thrumming in her head was no help, but she knew it wasn't her time. She had been tainted for eleven years, but she was not succumbing to the taint yet. "Y' got room in here?" She asked as she knocked on the wall of the great barn. "I was told there's another Warden on the premises." The man in the barn looked up from his carpentry. Broad shouldered and bearded, human, with the signature blue of the Wardens the only colour of his shirt. "Aye. There's room enough in here for two." Pretty, even with a beard. This may not be as hard as Valaena originally thought it might be... She found a comfortable looking hay bale, and lied back on it. "Your griffon looks good. For the children?" She asked.  
"Aye. They don't need the worries we do. Children are innocent of all this." Her new companion said in a gruff voice as he tapped away at the griffon.  
"Keep 'em so." She nodded. "I'm Valaena, by the way." The tapping stopped.  
"Mahariel? As in, the Valaena?" He asked, blue eyes focusing on Valaena.  
"Think so. The one you're talking about fought an Archdemon and broke through boundaries as a Dalish elf?"  
"Aye. Then you're the Hero of Ferelden."  
"That is what they call me." She said with a sheepish laugh. "Who are you?" She expected at least something right away, but the other Warden hesitated. The air was tense. "They call me Blackwall." He answered finally.  
"I've never heard of you. Are you one of the Orlesian Wardens?" Valaena wouldn't have known how big of a relief those words were to Blackwall. "Aye. I'm not so remarkable, but for the fact that the Inquisitor found me and wanted to keep me." He said with a laugh. Classic deflection. Valaena did it constantly, as well. "Oh? The Inquisitor asked me to join his menagerie. Well, he asked a friend, and a friend asked me. I didn't have anything more important to do than help save the world, so..." She lifted her hands to the sky, "...here I am."  
"Well, it's certainly a thrill to meet the Hero of Ferelden. You are... not what I expected."  
"That's what everyone says." Valaena sat up with a little grin. "That's why me and my band of misfits did so well at saving the world from that Blight."  
"I'd say you'd fit in here, then. The Inquisitor's a misfit himself."  
"I've met him. He's funny. And not uptight, like I thought he'd be."  
"That's why they all love him." Blackwall said as he looked past Valaena, to the people milling around in the courtyard of Skyhold. Valaena turned to look at them, as well. "They've pledged themselves to the Inquisition, many expecting nothing. They believe in him. A Dalish elf." Her eyes began to glisten.  
"You alright?" She heard Blackwall ask.  
"Yeah. Fine." She lied. Straw crackled as Valaena stood and walked over to the table Blackwall was working at. She smiled. "This is... adorable." Her light fingers traced over the saddle and down a wing. "Thank you." Blackwall replied gruffly. But they were interrupted by a puffing runner. "Warden Blackwall!" She announced, "Inquisitor wants you! He said you're to accompany him to Crestwood! Ten minutes, ser, at the bridge!" She left as quick as she came. "Right. Looks like I'm off. It was an honour meeting you, Ser Mahariel. I look forward to talking more with you after." Blackwall grumbled to Valaena as he shook her hand. She shook her head, but smiled graciously as she was taught to after the Archdemon. "Thank you. I'll be here." She replied. He let go of her hand, and she rubbed it on her thigh. Warrior's hands. Too familiar. A shiver went up her spine, and her ears tilted back sadly. The piercing blue-purple eyes of hers watched Blackwall gather up arms and armour, and followed him out to the bridge.  
He seemed unbothered by the thrumming. But then... so did she. The Seeker actually asked if she was even hearing it. The absolute nerve. 

Valaena was walking back from the tavern when she heard, "OI! ELF!" Whoever yelled was Fereldan and loud. Valaena and twenty others turned their heads to the voice, and the owner of the voice pointed. "Her, not you other numpties! Get on!" Valaena moved into a defensive stance, and the blonde swaggered up to her. "Maker's arse. Never thought I'd see the ACTUAL Hero up close!" She said after a moment of examining Valaena's face. "I was only little when you came to Denerim. Didn't like you. Thought you were up yerself. Then I watched you talkin' to ol' Quizzy up there." She wore a lopsided grin.  
"Thank you? I try to be as not up myself as possible. It's easy when you remember you've been covered in Darkspawn blood and shit." Valaena shrugged, and eased her defensive stance. Ears peeked out from beneath the mop of straw blonde hair, and the mustard stains on her shirt went well with the plaideweave tights. She looked surprised by Valaena's comment, however. "Oh. Good. It smells, right? Like, worse than regular shit and blood. Is it worse than a giant?"  
"I don't know. Never fought a giant. I had to kill a broodmother though. That was the worst sight and smell, ever."  
"Worse than the Archdemon?"  
"Definitely. That one was scary, but the broodmother was disgusting. Believe me. You never want to see one."  
"Andraste's flaming tits." The blonde elf laughed. "I'll take your word for it. Anyway. I'm Sera. I saw you with Grumpy-beard. He's good people, but sad. For some reason. Are all you Wardens sad? Anyway, he's good people and he'll take care of you. he loves the Grey Wardens a whole lot."  
"I don't plan on being an arse to anyone, if that's what you're trying to tell me."  
"Right. Good. Making sure. Can't have arses associating with Jahaerys. He's the best, and we need him to stay good." Sera was stern. Valaena was put off. Her brow furrowed and her voice became loud. "I've been through it. Don't presume at me. I am here on behalf of the King of Ferelden to assist the Inquisitor, as a being who carried the land through one crisis and united elves, dwarves, and humans, as a fellow Dalish elf and possible martyr for the lands I love and people that have hated us. I want peace, I want to get rid of this fucking thrumming song in my head, I want to help, and am not willing to compromise my morals to do so. Do not lecture me on being an arse." As soon as the last syllable left her mouth, Valaena's jaw locked and a tick could be seen in her cheek as she ground her teeth. The elf called Sera looked stunned. "I- sorry. I'll- Go. Sorry." She walked away, face turned to the ground. Valaena felt her stomach churn in anger. "Darling. Up here. I have tea." She looked up to find a woman wearing an Orlesian hennin looked down at her from a balcony. "Come." the woman gestured. Valaena didn't want to, but she didn't want to be rude. She climbed the steps to the Keep and asked a dwarf by the doorway how to get up there. She was struck by how nice his voice was, and thanked him for his instruction. When she got up there, she was greeted by the woman. "My dear, I heard everything. There's tea and sugar over there, help yourself." The woman's voice was strong and gentle, and Valaena did as she was bade.  
"Sorry you had to hear that."  
"No, my dear. Do not apologise. Your journey would have been stressful, Warden Mahariel. Sera has... very little tact. She was raised differently to both you and I, and has a fierce pride in many of the things she does and stands for."  
Valaena just nodded and poured some tea over three cubes of sugar. She liked to watch them melt. With the sugar, she tasted rose, orange, and elfroot. A healing, energising tea. It was nice, and she closed her eyes as she inhaled the aromas. "You need not speak here, I asked you here to relax. There is no space to think down there."  
"Thank you..."  
"Madame Vivienne de Fer." The woman assisted.  
"Thank you, Madame de Fer." Valaena smiled. The anger at the presumptions of Sera had abated. She understood the girl, though. It was hard to trust people. But Alistair had assured Valaena of the goodness of everyone else involved in the Inquisition, and she was inclined to trust anything Alistair told her. They sat in silence and sipped, and Valaena watched the sky change colour through the open double doors of Madame de Fer's lounge. She missed the sky during her time in the Deep Roads, she was so used to sleeping on or near the grass and having the sky overhead at all times. On the other hand, she'd never been up so high, so close to the sky she felt she could touch the clouds, and it had a kind of exhilaration to it. Once indigo began to seep into the warm purples, Valaena stood and thanked Vivienne for her tea and company. "It was no trouble, my dear. You are welcome here any time." Madame de Fer told Valaena with a small smile. "Thank you. Good night." Valaena smiled back before she left for the courtyard.

"So, 'tis true. The Hero has come." Valaena's ears perked, and she felt a jolt in her chest. That voice could be mistaken for no other. "Sneaky witch thief." She grinned in the bare light of the fire.  
"Mm." Valaena turned to see Morrigan quickly hide the smile that quirked the corner of her lips upward. "The Inquisitor told me that you may come. I assured him that you were far too busy for that. It seems that I was wrong. For a change."  
"You can't be right all the time, Morrigan." Valaena smiled properly, for a change, teeth and all. She hadn't seen any of them properly for so long... not even Leliana yet. "It's good to see you."  
"'Tis good to see you, too, Valaena." Morrigan must have seen the tears brimming in Valaena's eyes, because Valaena was surprised by a hug. They were rare, from Morrigan. And Valaena cherished it. "I can't believe you're still wearing the same thing you were eleven years ago." Valaena laughed even as tears dripped. She felt Morrigan chuckle, before pulling away.  
"Why on earth are you crying, Valaena?" She asked. Valaena didn't know. It was a swirl of emotions. Memories and loss, happiness and fear. "I don't know." She paused. "Does Alistair know you're here?" She asked with a cheeky, but small grin.  
"I do not know."  
"He wrote me, telling me to go to Skyhold."  
"Ah, then he does not know."  
"Thought so." They shared a laugh. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you again, Morrigan."  
"Nor I, you." They sat in silence. Valaena began to edge closer to Morrigan, and rested her head on the witch's shoulder. "Val-"  
"Too much talking. I just want to sit."  
"I see." Morrigan made no attempt to move away, she only moved her hand to sit on Valaena's in an act of comfort.

The next day was uneventful, apart from Valaena learning how few people knew what the Hero of Ferelden actually looked like. Instead, she found her way into what some of the people of Skyhold called "the bald elf's art gallery." She thought it odd that no one tried to stop her, mainly because she was carrying a bow and arrow into the keep. It worked for her though. She tied a note to the arrow, and lined up her shot: the balcony ledge on the top floor. It was an easy shot, and the arrow thrilled when it sunk into the timber beam. Valaena grinned and left, back to the Warden Barn, as it had recently been dubbed. 

She was mixing silver paint when Leliana strolled in. "I was wondering when you would come to see me." She smiled at Valaena.  
"I would have, had anyone let me up there to see you." Valaena said as she leapt up from her seat. "For someone who is quite famous, I have terrible luck with being recognised. Granted, it's been more than ten years, but, Creators! I still have the same features!"  
"White hair and gold vallaslin isn't striking enough, Val." Leliana laughed. "You need to wear something odd or bright for people to really remember you. Dress like an Orlesian without the mask!" Leliana still laughed, and Valaena snorted with laughter. "No, no, no, no, NO. I couldn't- oh, Elgar'nan save me!"  
"Still? That's why you gave me those horrid shoes, isn't it?" Valaena didn't know how long it had been since Leli had laughed like this, but for her it had been some years. She couldn't go back to her clan, even if she knew where they were, not after Tamlen. Even thinking about returning made her emotions spiral. Once she'd left Alistair to rule with Anora mac Tir, she couldn't bear returning to him. The odd letter was enough, but to see him with her? Valaena couldn't. It had been years since she'd seen any of them, even Zevran. If it hadn't have been for Alistair, Valaena knew she would've been living a happy life with Zev. She missed his cheeky grin and the spout of innuendos that came from his pretty mouth. But Valaena was happy in this moment, nonetheless. She looked properly at Leli. She had aged, she looked tired, but still beautiful as she was when they first met in Lothering. "I can't believe my sweet Chantry girl assassin became a founding member of the Inquisition. Sister Nightingale." She told Leli fondly. "Remember when we first met? Me, barely a Warden, you going on about a dream you had and the rose that bloomed from that twisted, old bush... The Blight was simple compared to what's happening now."  
"The Blight didn't require me to manage a network of spies and bards of my own, nor foil a plot against the Empress of Orlais." Leliana looked down and sighed with a smile. "Or red lyrium."  
"The Inquisitor told me about that. He briefed me on all of it."  
"Good. I do remember when we first met, and that rhyming oak tree!"  
"The Brecilian Forest! I had forgotten! Oh, it was annoying, that thing. I hated it. And that crazy mage who'd stolen his acorn... That whole thing was ridiculous."  
"I couldn't believe it when the Keeper was the one who'd done it!"  
"Nor could I. Oh... have you noticed how similar that Solas looks to Zathrian?" Valaena asked in a hushed voice.  
"Val, that is an odd thing to say. You killed Zathrian. I was there, I saw him."  
"I haven't actually spoken to him yet, but it's a feeling that I can't shake."  
"You've been through a lot, Val. It's normal to feel that way about ambiguous people like Solas. I will tell you, Seeker Pentaghast did not like him to begin with either. He is an apostate, and she a Seeker."  
"I've no problem with apostates. I don't like Circles. They're stupid. Templars can be very nasty. That's not why I feel like this... But it doesn't matter. The Brecilian forest is far behind us. I'm here to help with here and now. I was told there were Warden artefacts to be found?"  
"Yes, indeed, there are. Jahaerys thinks you should take Warden Blackwall along with you to find these things. They could hold valuable information for the Inqisition, to-"  
"To defeat these rogue Wardens who think blood magic and human sacrifice is the way to defeat the Blight forever." Darkness passed over Valaena's face as she said that. She was no stranger to what was happening within the Warden ranks, no matter how displaced she is from it all. It is her business to know. Demon summoning. Idiotic. "Yes. If Stroud is willing to help, Jahaerys and Varric think he would join you as well. He is slippery, though. Even I cannot find him, sometimes." Valaena noticed Leli's eyes flick skyward, and she had to go. "I will see you again. Of course. I couldn't not invite you for tea or dinner."  
"Go. Work. Save the world. Again." Valaena grinned as Leliana walked away. She returned to her silver paint, and was disappointed to see it a skin had dried over the top of the pot. "Bloody paint..." She muttered to herself as she began to fix it up.


	2. Gentle Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warden-Commander Mahariel and Warden Blackwall are sent away to recover Warden artefacts and dispatch of the Darkspawn, but get lost somewhere...

Valaena was awoken by a crashing downstairs, and she wriggled to poke her head off the edge of the floor to the bottom level of the barn. "Dread Wolf take you, I was having the best sleep of my life!" She groaned at the sound.  
"Sorry, Ser." Ah, it was Warden Blackwall.  
"Oh, you're all back?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes. "Looks like Crestwood chewed you up and spat you back out." She said with a giggle as she looked at Blackwall's hair.  
"Aye, I've never looked forward to a bath as much as I have been since we left." Valaena heard a small chuckle. "Wait for me. I need a wash too. There's hot springs nearby, aren't there?"  
"Best hot springs I've ever soaked in."  
"Good. I've got some good tricks for keeping hair nice on the road, too." Valaena laughed.   
"Give me ten minutes, I'll meet you at the front gate with a horse."  
"A horse? Alright." Valaena set about collecting some things of her own to take. Soap, fresh clothes, a wash rag, and a drying rag, and some extra bits. Master Dennet had a two horses ready, something Valaena wasn't used to. She engaged in small talk with the horsemaster before thanking him and leading the horse away to the great entryway. The horse she'd been given was a pale gold colour, and very sweet. It nuzzled into Valaena when she held her hand up to pet it. Valaena missed her mabari...  
Snuffling brought her out of her reverie, and the horse nudged Valaena's cheek. Blackwall was approaching with a great war horse, an old one who'd lived to retirement. His tail was braided with silver cord, and the same silver shone in his mane. It was a regal creature, with the look of age and scars of war showing. Master Dennet knew what he was doing with his horses, he knew his horses as the chosen of Ghilan'nain knew the clan's Halla. Blackwall and Valaena mounted their steeds and the man went first. It was a longer ride than Valaena had expected, but the caverns were more lovely than she had imagined. There were posts set up by the yawning mouth of the cave, and it was soft with grass. Warm air flowed out in a current and cut through the cold air that they had ridden through. The Wardens tied their horses to the posts and Valaena gave her gold a pat before they entered the cavern. Steam rose from three different pools, and stalactites collected the moisture to drip it back down into the hot pools. "Looks like we've got the place to ourselves." Blackwall commented.   
"Good. I like that better than noise of mouths flapping." Valaena replied as she wondered at the cave. The water looked ever so inviting, and Valaena began to strip her clothes off. She dropped all of the items of the floor, it didn't matter that they got wet. She needed to wash everything anyway. "Is that a shelf?"  
"Aye. Some of the dwarves came down and chiseled some dry areas out." Blackwall had taken his belt off and stored it, and was about to take store his boots and overshirt next to his dry bundle. Valaena followed suit, but already stark naked. "Maker!" She heard Blackwall call out, surprised, to which she replied with a laugh.   
"Sorry. Should've warned you. Shems..." She laughed and shook her head as she fished her bathing items out. "Don't be shy, Warden. I'm not going to judge." She heard Blackwall laugh back at her, a laugh with confidence behind it. The pool was hot, and Valaena had to ease herself in. It was shallow enough that she could sit down and the water covered her to her neck. She stretched her legs out into the deeper middle area and her feet were already thanking her, cramps that she didn't know she had were leaving. She looked up in time to see Blackwall before he dropped into the water, and she couldn't help the gasp of "Creators..." that left her lips. Grey Wardens were always too attractive for their own good. The padded tunic and armour that he wore gave him a lumpy look, but out of it, he was trim and chiseled. The broad shoulders Valaena had immediately noticed upon meeting him were well muscled, and that only continued down his broad chest and arms. Unlike her last Warden, this one had thick, dark hair across his chest. "Now, I know I said I wouldn't judge, but I need to. Good job." Valaena told Blackwall with emphasis. That drew a proper laugh from him. Thick and hearty. A real laugh. "I might say the same to you, Hero." He countered.  
"Please, Valaena. No Hero bullshit. If Ostagar hadn't been such a wreck, it would've been some other Warden, like Duncan."  
"Aye, alright then. No Hero." Blackwall's eyes flicked to Valaena before he dunked his head under the water. She dunked her wash rag in the water as well, before scrubbing it against the soap. She had to sit up on her knees to be able to scrub her skin, and she noticed her new Warden friend looking at her. A question had formed, but it was quickly quieted by his words. "Are those tattoos?" It was a surprise to her. That usually wasn't the topic of conversation when she was naked.  
"Yes."  
"It never crossed my mind that the Dalish might have tattoos elsewhere." His eyes flicked down to her leg.  
"Understandable. It's um, a dragon." She pointed to the one on her back, and turned so Blackwall could see. She heard the water sloshing at the sides of the natural pool, "Aye. I see it." He'd moved closer.  
"I was lucky enough to run into another Dalish tribe, and they thought themselves lucky to run into me." She laughed, it was an uneasy laugh. She'd never become used to her people acting in such a way toward her. Maybe because it felt like home... until it didn't. "A drop of darkspawn blood was mixed in with the ink. It was meant to be gold like my face, but the blood turned it that green." The vial on the chain around her neck felt extraordinarily heavy for a moment, and her hand closed around it. "They said it was an honour to do this, and the clan watched. Vallashanin. Markings of glory." The green was pale, shimmering.  
"Must've been nice to be back with your old ways."  
"Creators, it was so nice." Valaena exhaled. Blackwall's voice had sounded tender to her ears, and it was a surprise when she felt his fingers on her back.   
"Sorry, sorry." He said, quickly removing his hand from Valaena. It had been an intense moment, and it surprised the both of them.   
"No, it's okay. Usually people are trying to touch my face." She added with an awkward laugh.  
"I haven't often been this close to tattoos. I was curious-"  
"If it's like a scar? No, our Keepers are all too good to leave us scarred." She told him. Blackwall was still examining the tattoo. It was exquisite, with intricate lines flowing and crossing down Valaena's back. The head of the dragon rested on the back of her shoulder, and the tail reached down over the side of her hip - where Blackwall was looking origainally. The wings were close to the body, which seemed to writhe up the elf's pale skin. "Orlais could learn a thing or two from this." Valaena's ear twitched.  
"Like they haven't taken enough from my people. Halamshiral." She concluded in an incredibly mocking Orlesian accent. "The End of The Journey. But then they decided to start a war and take it from my people, like there hadn't been enough taken from us. I've been there, and the elves of Halamshiral aren't even allowed in some places." She spat. Then she took a moment and inhaled. "I meant no offence, Ser." Blackwall said with a hand raised in apology.   
"It's not you. You obviously aren't Orlesian by birth, anyway." There was a long history in Thedas, and the elves were there for all of it. "I told you I had some tricks for keeping hair looking nice on long journeys, shall we move on?"  
"I think that's best." Valaena picked her soap up again. It had once been a ball the size of a fist, now it was like the moon during a very strange phase. Her wash cloth had to be rinsed out, then she scrubbed it on the soap once more. "Come," she gestured to Blackwall as she sat back in the hot water. The cloth sat on the edge of the pool and excess water was squeezed from Blackwall's thick, dark hair. The soap didn't bubble much as she scrubbed it on his scalp and through his hair. "Don't wash it out yet." Valaena told him as she moved around so that she could reach his face. The process was repeated on his beard. Valaena couldn't help but get lost in his eyes at some point. They were deep, with the mourning of a hundred years behind them. She didn't know that Blackwall would be thinking very similar thoughts about her. She made herself move away after a silence grew between them. "And just...leave that in until you get out." An awkward chuckle left her throat. Ah, it was the Blight with Alistair all over again. 

 

"What is it with me and Grey Wardens? Is it something about the way they smell?" Valaena groaned to Leliana over dinner. Leli laughed. "First I met Duncan, and was all "Creators, save me! I want to climb him like a tree!" Then there was Alistair-"  
"And you two were hotter than a summer in Antiva! After all of the awkward flirting, that is." Leliana laughed.  
"Shut it, you. Or maybe...it's just humans..." Val smiled before draining a glass of wine.  
"I'll have to tell Jahaerys that our Warden has an admirer."  
"You would too." Valaena couldn't miss that mischievous glimmer in Leliana's eyes. "On second thought... let him know. He might help things along." Leliana laughed at Valaena again. They were both so glad to have someone from their old life back in their life, and both shone all the brighter for it. "Oh, and here he is. Have a seat Jahaerys."  
"Leli, my spymaster extraordinaire, you know I love you... but did our dinner have to be up here? With all of your ravens?" They were the first words out of the Inquistor's mouth, and Valaena already loved him. "Oh, don't be so mean, they're sweet." Valaena laughed as she stroked a finger down one's heavy beak. The Inquisitor was only a little taller than Valaena, and covered with freckles. His Vallaslin looked brown in the low light that they had, but in the sunlight she knew it to be red. He matched the eyeliner he wore to it, which contrasted his ghostly blue-grey eyes brilliantly. Jahaerys was yet another handsome face with dark hair and blue(ish) eyes. His sharp jaw and full lips made his beautiful eyes less threatening, more strikingly beautiful. "Leave my birds alone, Jahaerys." Leliana said with a smile. "Besides, I have more pressing information for you."  
"Oh? Tell me more." He sat down, opposite Leli and Valaena. The conspiratorial look told Valaena they sat and gossiped often, on a slow day. "Mr. Grey Warden out there has a new admirer."  
"Unsurprising. We can't go anywhere without someone commenting on his grizzled good looks." Valaena could feel a blush rising in her cheeks, and her ears dropped a little. Leliana softly gestured to Valaena, and she heard the Inquisitor say, "Ooooh. How unexpected."  
"I've changed my mind. He doesn't need to know. Let me become an old spinster and die alone, regretting the choices I've made about relationships." Valaena finished with a breathy laugh. She was only half joking.   
"Val." Leliana took her hand. "You need to move on from Alistair."  
Valaena stayed quiet.  
"The King of Ferelden did have an Elven lover, then?" She heard Jahaerys ask. "I thought that was only a rumour meant to make the bastard king seem less likable to the humans." He shrugged and leaned back with a peach in his hand.  
"No. Alistair loved Valaena. He still does. But... duty. Sacrifice. You know." Leliana said, more to Valaena than Jahaerys. The pit dropped out of Valaena's stomach.   
"He couldn't have an elf on the throne. That'd be the most terrible thing, wouldn't it." She mumbled bitterly.   
"Sweet Mythal. You've been stewing on this for...eleven years?" Jahaerys leaned forward again, and asked.  
"Eleven years. I haven't had a steady relationship since. I never loved anyone like I loved Alistair."  
"He doesn't love Anora like he loved you. It was only a political marriage." Leliana assured. Though, it didn't make Valaena feel any better.   
"I think we should find something else to talk about..." It was silent for a moment, until the Inquisitor looked up.  
"I've always wanted to know what it was like. For you. Saving Ferelden from the Blight." Jahaerys told Valaena, flipping their conversation right around. "You were recruited, then all of a sudden you were one of the last Grey Wardens in Ferelden. AND! You united all of us- elves, dwarves, shems, to fight the Archdemon! It must have been exhilarating." Valaena looked at Jahaerys. He couldn't have been much older than she was when she became a Warden, and he looked so happy. "Really, it was a lot of walking. SO much walking."  
"Oh, Maker, I've never walked so much in my life." Leliana agreed with a laugh.  
"And the Deep Roads were terrible. At least they didn't hate me for being an elf, like the humans did. I met the Legion of the Dead, too. They respected me. That was exhilarating."  
"The Legion of the Dead? We've found some writings on them. They're a faction of dwarves that live in the abandoned parts of the Deep Roads and fight the Darkspawn that roam through, yes?"  
"That's them. They're cynical and hardened warriors. I was half tempted to stay down there with them, really." Valaena laughed.   
"I'm glad you didn't." Leliana's hand found Valaena's again.  
"So am I, but for wildly different reasons, I'd say." Jahaerys grinned, with a shrewd eye on Valaena and Leliana's hands. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you two were romantic in those years past."  
"There may have been some flirting..." Valaena began.  
"And some chance meetings afterward..."  
"But we were always too busy, anyway."  
"Now we're just the closest of friends." Leliana finished.  
"But, really, I was tempted. Until the blob."  
"Maker!" Leliana shuddered. "That thing was horrid." Valaena and Leliana told Jahaerys stories of the Blight all night. All three were distracted from pressing thoughts by drink and story. It was nearing dawn when they all passed out at the table, long after the plates of food were picked clean and all but Skyhold's night crew of servants and guards were fast asleep.

Valaena found herself being gently shaken awake, and smelt a hot breakfast set out before her before she opened her eyes. A stretch released the muscles in her back, and she opened her eyes. Leliana and Jahaerys were only recently awoken as well. They sleepily shared breakfast before parting to attend to their needs and errands for the day.   
Down in the yard, Valaena sat in the sun and was sharpening her weapons when a shadow crossed her. "Mind if I join?"  
"Not at all, Ser." Valaena replied without looking up. She didn't need to, and partially didn't want to. She sat on the grass with a silverite sword leaning against her knee with the point digging into the dirt. It barely needed sharpening, but Valaena liked to take it out and oil it at every chance. It was the sword she'd killed the Archdemon with, the sword she sunk into it's head through the roof of it's mouth, the sword that had come with her through so much darkness and love. Blackwall had begun to whet his sword beside her. It looked heavy, the steel of the blade was thick. Valaena's silverite blade was unmissable in the sun, it shone almost white in the crisp, green grass. She moved onto her knives next, and fell into a steady rhythm as she sharpened them against her whetstone. The Warden next to her did the same. When her knives were done, she tested their sharpness on the grass, and sheared through the soft blades. The dragonscale armour came next, it needed polishing. Valaena chanced a look up at Blackwall. He was focused on his sword, but oh, his eyes were sad. Blue and grey and sad. What had he seen, what had he done, to bring such depth to his eyes? She didn't notice his hand had stopped. "You alright, Warden-Commander?"  
It was the first time anyone at Skyhold had called her that. It set a twitch off in her cheek. "I'm no commander, Ser." She started. "I'm alright. Just..."  
"Alright." Blackwall looked directly at Valaena. "Just... what?"  
"You're brooding." She answered with a small grin, deflecting.  
"I'm not brooding."  
"I didn't say it was a bad thing. It brings out just how handsome you are." A moment passed, and a laugh sounded in her throat, behind closed lips. Blackwall let a chuckle loose, as well. "Charming. Maybe I should've been in Ferelden when the Blight happened. You could've recruited me in a heartbeat." He added, looking sideways at Valaena as he faced his sword again.  
"Anyone who's spent enough time in Orlais is always weak for nice comments about their appearance. But, I am also just that good." She swept her hair over her shoulder with a flourish. It almost felt like she was back with Alistair, just in a much larger camp and if Alistair was twenty years older with a beard. "I have a question." She announced.  
"Fire away." Blackwall answered as he slid his sword back into it's scabbard.  
"Does your beard drain the power of all of the other ones in Skyhold? Because you are literally the only person I've seen here who has a beard."  
"Aye. It comes off in the night and stalks the grounds, taking other beards off faces, consuming them..." He said with all the seriousness of someone talking about the Blight. "Moustaches don't count."  
"Right. Will you shave it once it reaches your feet, or will you just braid it all up?"  
"No. I'll just grow into the ground. Like a tree. It'll take root, and use those tendrils to reach up and steal beards all over Thedas."  
"Damn, you're good. I almost believed that for a moment there." Valaena laughed.  
"Why wouldn't you?" Blackwall said with a small, but dazzling grin.   
"Wardens." A runner appeared in the doorway of the barn. "We've had news of Grey Warden artefacts in the Hinterlands, the Storm Coast, and the Emprise. There's also been news of Darkspawn on the surface on the Storm Coast. Inquisitor asks you to collect the artefacts, and "Get rid of those bloody Darkspawn." His words."  
"Thank you. We'll leave as soon as we are packed." Valaena told the runner who set off back to Jahaerys, before turning to Blackwall, "I'll have to ask Leli if she's told them all to absolutely not refer to me as Warden-Commander. Some of them look scared to talk to me." She laughed.  
"I would be, too, Warden-Commander. Didn't you know Dalish elf eat human children?" She decided that yes, she did like Blackwall. Cheeky ass on the level of Zevran.  
"Oh, come off it. I haven't eaten a shem child since I became a Warden. That's eleven years clean." Valaena couldn't help but smile. "Hurry up and pack your things. I'll be taking a hart this time please, Master Dennet."She added, calling out to their Horsemaster.  
"Bloody elves." Blackwall laughed.

 

A half hour later, they were packed, and Valaena met Blackwall at the gate where he held their mounts. The maps in her hand were rolled tightly, and she was jogging with a spring in her step. "Leliana scared them all for you, didn't she?" Blackwall probed as she climbed up onto her mount.  
"What ever do you mean, good Ser?" Valaena was obviously in good spirits.  
"Aye, I thought so." Blackwall kicked his warhorse into a walk. "We won't get too far today, but we should be able to get down to a warmer climate before dusk." He informed Valaena.  
"Good. We need to set up camp before nightfall, so we can at least have a look at our maps."  
The sun was low in the sky before the duo reined up. A shallow cave caught their interest, and it would protect them from the cold winds swirling snow down the mountain. Blackwall dismounted and disappeared into the cave for a moment. "Looks decent. Camped in before. The firepit is still there."  
"Great. We'll stop here." They both gave their mounts a generous hobble, each helping to calm the other's as they wrapped the rope around the skinny lower legs. Valaena untied her pack from her hart, and gave it a loving scratch along its nose before she sat down in the golden light of the sun. "Maps."  
"Aye." They unrolled the first one, and pinned it to the ground, Valaena with one foot and one hand.  
"Oh, good. I was going to suggest Hinterlands first... looks like they aren't too far from the already established camps. It should be easy." She shared.   
"Here," Blackwall said, dragging his finger around a spot on the map, "is a shit load of bears."  
"Wonderful." Valaena said, in the driest voice she could muster. "Apart from that, this looks easy enough. The rifts are all closed unless we find a new one, Jahaerys told me, and send a raven if we do. Like it needed to be said."  
"Aye. Maker, he'd be getting sick of them by now."  
"It very much seemed that way. Shall we look at the Storm Coast now?" Val asked as she rolled the first map away. As they rolled the new map out, they immediately noticed many more areas of interest for them were marked. "Oh, Creators..." Valaena rolled her eyes.  
"We'll go inland first. Find the artefacts, then deal with those shitstains." Blackwall said, directly referring to the Darkspawn.   
"Agreed." Valaena sighed. Both of them scoured the map for a few moments, before rolling it again. "I should've just stayed in the Deep Roads."  
"And never had the pleasure of meeting me?" Blackwall asked with a laugh.  
"You've got me there, Warden." Valaena smiled.  
"I'm going to find some firewood. If I can." He called back over his shoulder as he walked away.  
"If he can. There aren't a lot of trees around here, are there?" Valaena baby-talked at her Hart as she scritched it's chin. It was nice enough to lean down for her, and it's intelligent eyes were level with hers. "I know I'm short. Shut up." She liked having animals around. Her mabari, the cat in the Deep roads, now this Hart. "I should give you a name. But what?" She asked it. It huffed. "I know, I can't just give you any old name. You're a regal beast, with a connection ages past to the Elvhenan." One hoof lightly tapped the ground. "I will think of something." Valaena left her Hart to give the horse a scritch as well, then moved away to set up both her and Blackwall's bedrolls by the fire. With them unrolled and blankets set out, Valaena began a walk around the cave.  
"Fenhedis!" She called out with a growl. Something had been smashed inside the cave, and not cleaned up properly. Valaena limped back to her bedroll and fell back onto it. Blood covered the bottom of her foot, and she had no water to wash it. "Alright in there?" She heard Blackwall call from outside.  
"Yeah. Did you see any elfroot out there?" She called back as she found the piece of ceramic shard poking out of her foot. Blackwall's footsteps echoed into the cave and he dropped the wood near the mouth. "As it happens, I did." Valaena's brow tilted up as she watched him pull some leaves out of a pocket on his belt. "That looks nasty. I'll never understand why your lot don't wear shoes."  
"Usually, we don't smash ceramics around our camps, Blackwall." She rebutted, holding up the rather large shard. It had a slight curve to it, like it came from a shallow bowl. He handed the elfroot over, and Valaena immediately began to chew on a leaf. "Disgusting." She breathed as she took it from between her lips and pressed it into her wound. "Saliva and elfroot juices. Good for any wound."  
"Come here." Blackwall knelt down next to her, and produced a rag from inside his boot. It was thoroughly stained. "That's your usual rag for cleaning blood?" She asked as she gave him her foot.  
"Aye. But usually for my sword." He answered as his hand wrapped around her ankle. He was careful not to get too near the hole in Valaena's foot, which was already numbing. Valaena was surprised at how gentle his hands were, it was something that she didn't expect from such a large, gruff man. Her stomach did a flip, amongst other sensations she felt in her body. "Thank you. I haven't had this kind of treatment since the last time I was travelling across Ferelden. For a Qunari, he was surprisingly soft-handed, as well."  
"A Qunari helped you defeat the Blight?" Blackwall asked without looking up. Instead he was holding the blood-rag against Valaena's foot, under the gash. "Yes. He was tall, scary, and oh so gentle. He loved kittens and cookies." She laughed, remembering Sten, who called her Kadan.  
"So, the opposite of The Iron Bull."  
"I wouldn't know. I didn't get the chance to meet him. I was told he usually hangs around the tavern, but I couldn't stay in there. It was too loud. There were too many people. I panicked and left." Valaena confided in Blackwall.  
"I heard Sera accosted you on the upper lawn. Was that then?"  
"Yes. And she was right. You are good people. You and the Inquisitor, both."  
"I'll have to talk to her after we return." There was a pause. "I'm not, really."  
"You're a Warden, working with the Inquisition. Directly with the Inquisitor. How bad can you be?" She couldn't help but laugh. She knew too many people who looked down on themselves in such a way, and couldn't help but recall Alistair's voice saying, "I'm a bad, bad man." Of course, that was him being funny, but he still believed that he was not good. He was one of the best people she knew. "Alright. Looks like it's stopped." Blackwall said, removing the rag.  
"Thank you."  
"Do you want it bound?"  
"Probably best. I don't want an infection setting in my foot."  
"Wait here a moment." Blackwall set up and started a fire, and removed the coat he wore before returning to Valaena with a bandage and salve. "Right, lay back. Lift your foot up." He commanded, and she complied easily. Yet again, she was surprised at how gentle and deft he was with his hands. She felt the leaf taken away from her foot, but didn't feel the fingers that took it. The salve stung when it went on, and Valaena hissed. "Crush those leaves a bit for me."  
"What's your name?" She asked as she crushed.  
"Gordon." He told her as he took the leaves from her. They were wrapped, pressed flat against her foot, inside the bandage.   
"Decidedly un-Orlesian."  
"Marcher born."  
"Ah. That explains a lot. Free Marchers sound a lot like Fereldans." Valaena pulled her foot away after Blackwall tied the bandage off around her ankle. "That's... comfortable. I've never been able to bandage properly. It's always too tight. Thank you."  
"Not a problem. We're working together. I can't leave you to fester and rot away. Leliana'd have my head." Again, Blackwall changed the conversation. Valaena understood, she didn't much enjoy talking about her home either. Probably for different reasons though, she thought. "She'd have your head, and your balls, on a spike outside Skyhold. That woman is ruthless." Valaena told him with a fond grin.  
"Were you two... involved?" Valaena must have given a look, because Blackwall continued, "You get a look in your eyes when you talk about her. It's hard to miss. Your eyes are vibrant." Vibrant. She'd never heard that one before.   
"We... we kind of were. After all the shit." Blackwall grunted, and they sat in silence for a while. The cave grew warm with the fire burning, and Valaena stripped her coat and thick pants off. Her tights and leathers were definitely enough while inside- "Oh. Shit!" She scrambled to grab the bucket off the packs that came off her hart, and filled it with snow. "What?" Blackwall asked as she held the bucket ovre the fire.  
"They need water. I completely..." She slapped her palm against her forehead. "I'm an idiot. You'll get used to it. I can disarm a tripwire or trap tile in a floor, but remembering to water the mounts? Fuck no." The snow was melted into warm water, and she returned to the mouth of the cave, to the horse and hart, and held the bucket for them to get a good drink. Before leaving to her bedroll again, she put some more handfuls of snow in the water to melt away.  
"Everyone forgets sometimes." Blackwall told Valaena from where he lay.  
"Wise words, beardy." Sarcasm was her real, one true love in the world. "Does everyone also get stabbed in the sole of their foot on the first day of an outing?"  
"Perhaps not." Blackwall chuckled.  
"Does everyone also want those gentle hands of yours on their skin once more?" Silence. Fenhedis, she thought, and she closed her eyes. She knew she shouldn't have said that. But then she heard Blackwall move. Hesitant, she opened an eye. He was above her, and his breath smelled like mint. That's what he'd been chewing. A breathless laugh escaped her, "Creators... that was quick."  
"I hope you don't say that about me, again." Blackwall laughed, before closing the gap between them. Valaena wrapped her arms around his neck as she felt his lips on hers. Her legs followed. Her mouth parted against his, and their kiss deepened. Teeth clashed, but who cared? Blackwall dragged Valaena up, and sat on his legs. His muscular arms around her, and hands once so gentle now gripping her, turned her on. Her hips began to move, grinding against him of their own accord. "Creators," She gasped as soon as she moved to take some air. If she wasn't wearing leather, Blackwall would've torn her clothes from her body already. She could feel the bulge in his trousers against her, and she broke their kiss once more to pull his shirt over his head. He was quick, unbuckling the straps on her top and getting it off her before she whined for more. Alistair loved that whine. He'd tease it out of her, and she swore he got tips off Leliana and Zevran. One callused hand stayed on her back as Blackwall began to kiss Valaena again, the other moved between them, to her small breast. His hand was hot, and they were both breathing heavily. She gasped into the kiss as she felt him pinch her nipple, which brought a chuckle out of him. The vibration of it through his broad chest into hers made things sexier, somehow. He lay Valaena down again even as he undid the buttons on her pants. A gasp came from Valaena again when Blackwall pulled away from the kiss, and grazed his mouth across her ribs. "Oh, Creators." She moaned.  
"I've barely touched you." Blackwall looked up between strands of his mussed hair, and Valaena looked down her body at him. "I haven't had a man in years, Gordon. Keep proving your worth." She told him with a smirk.  
"You're going to regret those words, Valaena." His hands grasped her pants on each hip, and pulled.  
"I hope so." Her white hair pooled around her head as she layed back, and lifted her hips. Her pants came off with a quick flick, and her bandage didn't even move. "Maker." She heard Blackwall breathe. He sat up on his knees and dropped forward, catching himself just above Valaena. What possessed her to do so, she didn't know, but Valaena's hands went to each side of Blackwall's face and pulled him close to her - by his beard. Her body jolted when she felt one of his hands snake down her stomach, and she let her pleasure be known when he slipped a finger inside her. That seemed to spur him on more, and Valaena reached down, mirroring his movement on her, back on him. She grazed her long, scarred fingers down his stomach, and slipped her hand between his skin and his trousers. His moan was soft, but it was there and she tasted it as a second finger slipped inside her. Her hand wrapped around him properly, and she began a slow stroke. "Maker, stop." He gasped. Valaena's brow knitted. Did she do something wrong? Blackwall looked at her and shook his head with a small grin before he stood up, almost as if he'd heard her thoughts. Never had Valaena seen someone undo buttons so quick, and she was impressed. His pants dropped, and Valaena's eyes widened. "That's what I've gotten myself into?" Blackwall laughed as he dropped back down, and stripped his pants and boots off. His eyes were hungry on her body, "I've been thinking the same thing." His fingers reclaimed their spot, but Valaena moved his arm away before her hand found him again. Instead, his hand slipped under her waist, and lifted her even as she guided him. His moan was audible this time, and their pleasures mingled. Both of his hands wrapped around her hips and Blackwall sat up on his knees. Valaena's hands disappeared into her hair, and she let herself get lost in the feeling pumping through her body. Her hips lifted and Blackwall's hands tightened around her, and Valaena cried out. In her moans, his name, Gordon, was only just discernible. Her wave crashed, and Blackwall picked her up as he moved, and suddenly she was on top of him. Sweat had begun to run down his face, and she could see the sheen across his chest and shoulders. They probably didn't need the fire tonight. Valaena grinded on him as she kissed him, their tongues dancing while his hands danced up her torso. She sat up and used his chest as leverage, helping her bounce and gyrate on top of him. Sweat began to prickle her skin soon enough, and Blackwall took over once again. He held her hips in place above him, and Valaena threw her head back. He was doing all of the thinking for her, and Creators it felt good. Things were becoming a blur, and the next thing Valaena knew, she was against the wall of the cave. It was cold, but the heat coming off of Blackwall more than made up for that. It was easy for him to hold her up, the elf was a five foot something wisp of nothing to Blackwall, muscular as she was. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he drove her into the stone behind her. She lost herself to the fire, and writhed in Blackwall's grip, not for one second did his rhythym let up on her. Valaena latched onto Blackwall's neck as she was tipped over the edge again. Her teeth scraped along his neck as she moaned, and she heard him say "Fuck..." between heavy breaths. It felt like she lost something when Blackwall lifted her off him, but she accepted it when she felt his seed shoot onto her thigh. "I definitely don't regret my words, Gordon." Valaena told him breathlessly as his forehead dropped onto her shoulder. "I'll have to try harder next time, won't I?" She watched his shoulders shake as he laughed.   
"Creators, the stars are out." Blackwall looked up, before carrying Valaena back over to her bedroll.   
"We should probably think about sleeping, shouldn't we?" He asked her.  
"Should we?" Valaena shot back with a brow raised. Both of Blackwall's brows went up. Valaena laughed, a good throaty laugh.


	3. One (1) Beard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the Hinterlands. Valaena finds something she's needed for a long time. Overall, it's... nice.

Valaena was awake with the sun, already dressed and boiling water over the rekindled fire when she noticed Blackwall wake. "Hungry?" She asked. He nodded with a sleepy grunt. Oats and sugar went into the pot, with blackberry syrup sitting next to the bowls. Blackwall half sat up, a blanket still mostly covering him as he leaned up on his elbow. "Why didn't you wake me?" A query that surprised Valaena.  
"I thought you'd need your rest after that performance." She shrugged. Blackwall raised his brows and lowered his eyes in a way that said "Fair enough."  
"It quieted the thrumming in my head. For a bit. Thank you." That made Blackwall laugh.  
"No one's actually thanked me after sex before."  
"There's always a first for everything." Valaena shot back with some cheek. "For example, keep being an ass and it'll be your first time riding out of the Frostbacks ass naked."  
"Funny enough, I've been threatened with that before." He still hadn't moved to get dressed, but Valaena didn't mind at all. She stirred the pot a bit as it began to boil, and added a touch more sugar. "Oh," She stood and ran out of the cave for just a moment, and returned with a wet rag which she held by the fire until it was warm, "here." She said as she handed it to Blackwall. "You didn't need to-"  
"I was up anyway. Don't worry yourself."  
"Thank you." He said as he rose. A stretch took him out of the cave, and Valaena watched him go. She liked that almost as much as she liked watching him come. (wink) He had long, muscular legs, which led up to a great ass. Valaena bit her lip a little. When he returned, the rag was gone and his hair was bound behind his head - but he was still naked as the day he was born. Valaena held a bowl of porridge out to him, and dripped a layer of blackberry syrup onto hers. They ate in relative silence, and Blackwall took the dirty dishes when they were done eating. Salt and snow scrubbed them just fine, and he left them by the fire to dry as he got dressed. "Gordon." Valaena announced, her face expressionless. "Are you okay?" Her tone could not have matched her expression any less. It was full of concern. "Aye."  
"Sure?"  
"Aye."  
"Are you thinking about last night?"  
His blue grey eyes landed on her, sad and hungry all at once, "Aye."  
"You didn't take advantage of me. If you didn't notice, I wanted you to-"  
"Aye, I know that."  
"Then what is it? We can't go on this expedition together, if this is how it will. I'm okay with casual sex." Her words may have been stern, but her voice was full of compassion.  
"I don't want you to want me, but I can't help but want you back. You're the Hero of Ferelden. I'm just-"  
"Shut up." Valaena sighed. "Stop it with the Hero of Ferelden bullshit. I was in the wrong place at the right time. My best friend died, then I watched as Duncan and King Cailan were overrun and killed by Darkspawn."  
"How I heard it, you were noble and brave."  
"I was selfish. I wanted everyone to stop their petty squabbles and focus on the shit at hand, the worse shit that was overrunning Ferelden while they were paying attention to nothing. The only reason I took on as much as I did, was because I could never have defeated the Archdemon as a little knife-wielding Dalish from the forest. I needed to become stronger, and that's what I did. Stop calling me Hero. And Warden-Commander. It's all bullshit." Valaena exhaled, anger clouding her head.  
"You did more than anyone else did. If it weren't for you, Thedas would still be under the thumb of a Blight, and have Corypheus to deal with." How did this start out about him brooding, and then become Blackwall and his even voice trying to comfort Valaena? "What ever you say. I should have stayed in the Deep Roads. It's only Darkspawn and spiders down there." She huffed, unable to meet Blackwall's eyes. To her surprise, he moved over beside her and wrapped an arm around her. He'd known enough warriors to see through Valaena's facade. He knows himself. "Fuck the Blight." Valaena breathed.  
"Aye. Fuck the Blight." Blackwall agreed, as Valaena rested her head on his shoulder. "We'll go when you're ready."

They rode for a week, and talked as they rode. At night, they slept in caves or under trees after knowing each other. Lunch and most dinners were taken as they rode, unless one of them shot a bird. Soon enough, they were close to the head Inquisition camp in the Hinterlands. They stayed in the camp overnight, and shared a tent. Both Valaena and Blackwall were asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the straw-stuffed pillows, and slept until late in the morning. "Good morning, Sers. Your mounts are ready, if needed. As requested, they were not tied, only hobbled. There's food over there." One of the scouts told Blackwall and Valaena once they emerged from the tent at about ten in the morning. They ate, then armed. Both wore the signature blue and grey or silver of the Grey Wardens, their armour proudly displaying the griffon of the Grey across the plates on their chests. "We strike out west, find the stuff, come back here, and leave for the Storm Coast." Valaena announced.  
"That's a plan." Blackwall agreed. They both thanked the scouts, and assured them they would return in, probably, less than a week. The scouts saluted the Wardens as they began to walk off on their mission. Valaena hadn't been out this way for a long time, and she smiled as they walked. It had really recovered since the Blight. "It's beautiful again." She said as she pulled a flower from the stalk while they walked. "I can't believe how well it looks."  
"Disasters are sometimes good for the land. Like new growth after a fire."  
"Yeah." Valaena was becoming overwhelmed. They walked in silence for some time after that. "They Warden thing should be in that direction." She piped up after a while, vaguely pointing to her left. They turned that way and walked for a while. Scraps of paper in Valaena's belt were a detailed area map, and Valaena stopped suddenly while looking at it. "Up? I think." She told Blackwall as she looked up at a small cliff. They circled it, and found an easy path up. "Look for a camp, I'd say." Blackwall suggested. They each took a side and circled around the island. Valaena was rounding a bunch of shrubs when she heard a shout from her companion. It came from the opposite side of the island, and she ran over. It wasn't hard to spot Blackwall, with his winged Warden helm shining in the afternoon sun like a beacon. "I believe that's it, Warden-Commander."  
"Shut it, or I'll shut it for you, ass." She said as she leaned down to open the small lockbox half buried in the dirt. It was easy to unlock, and filled with papers. Valaena's eyes widened as she pulled the papers out of the box. "Do you know what these are!?" She asked Blackwall excitedly. "Look!"  
"The Deep Roads?"  
"The Deep Roads! These maps could help us... in so many ways! Creators!" Her large eyes were bright and darting all over the papers, and her ears were pricked right up. She didn't see Blackwall gazing at her in her excitement. She didn't know how guilty he felt, and the churning ball of regret boiling in his stomach. Her hands quickly and gently folded the papers back up, and closed the lockbox. A strip of leather was wound and tied around the box as well, before Valaena stowed it away in her pack. "Let's go. The next camp isn't far off."  
"It's near where the Inquisitor recruited me. I'd like to show you."   
Valaena smiled. "I'd love to."   
It was nearing evening once they reached lake near Valammar. Their walking was slow, after their riding. Both of them had stiff legs, and needed to become used to walking again, instead of riding. The sun was low in the sky and shone like fire on the relatively still water. Blackwall pointed out a shallow area to cross to the island in the middle of the lake, then there was a bridge to the other bank. The house there looked deserted, but Valaena drew her knives before walking in behind the creaking door. There were no signs of life, and no beings were hiding under the bed. The dust on the table was rather thick, and there was nothing of value in the house. But it was neat. Respectful travelers, perhaps, sharing a communal rest stop? Valaena didn't know, but it would serve them for the night. "Time for a bath?" It was more on an invitation than an outright question, and Blackwall raised an inquisitive brow at her. "Let me get a fire lit, first."  
"Your choice." She shrugged as she began to unbuckle herself from her armour. Soon enough, she was naked and floating in the water, and Blackwall was finally undressing himself. Valaena heard him splashing over to her, and ducked under the water to swim away. She rose out of the water in the shallows, and pushed her hair back from her face with a grin. "Too slow, Warden." She teased. Blackwall ducked under the water and swam toward her, and Valaena ran along the shallows, around and away, back into the deeper water. "Warden-Commander, are you scared to be caught?" He asked after he surfaced, a charming smile catching Valaena off guard.   
"Alright. Come closer, Warden, and I'll show you how scared I am." She waited, treading the water to keep herself afloat, and Blackwall rose up in front of her. "I told you to shut it, or I'd shut it for you. You didn't shut it." Valaena whispered in Blackwall's ear as she wrapped her legs around him. He could stand in the water, and stood fast against the slow, but powerful current. Valaena felt his hands slide up her legs and grasp onto her buttocks, and she closed the gap between their lips. It was a romantic scene, with the sunset sky reflected in the water around two silhouettes - seemingly in love. Valaena's stomach churned as she thought about it, even as she felt his soft lips and tongue move against hers. 'But it's just lust.' She thought to herself. 'How could it not be? He looks good from any angle, especially with his hair tied back. I've always been weak for beauty.' 

They were both denying themselves anything more. They were both idiots. 

They kissed, and kissed more, and Valaena felt Blackwall harden. She pulled away from him momentarily as she reached her hand down into the water, and Blackwall gave small nod with an even smaller grin. She hissed as she slid down his length, and he bit the side of her neck. She felt his hot breath quicken against her neck, and his rough hands moved down to her thighs. They moved together in the water, until Valaena pushed away. Blackwall followed, and she pulled him closer in the shallows. "Lay back."  
"What?" Blackwall looked confused.  
"Trust me, Gordon." She pushed him back with a soft hand on his chest. He was so compliant, Valaena questioned it at times... But he always consented to her touch, as she did his. She slid her hand down his chest, and her mouth met it at his stomach. He'd understood what she was doing, by then. Sharp teeth pinched his skin, and again at the crease where his leg met his body, and once more on his thigh. She felt a quiver in Blackwall's leg as she did that, and grinned. "Andraste's tits." He moaned.  
"Don't you mean, Valaena's?" She asked slyly before she ran her tongue up his length.  
"Aye, yours are nicer." He replied with a heavy sigh. Valaena's hand encircled his girth and stroked, and she opened her mouth to take him in. "Valaena..." Blackwall's moan only served to spur her on. She twisted her hand around him, her tongue flicked and swirled, and Blackwall's hand twisted in her hair. The water tremored as Blackwall's legs quivered, and Valaena quickened her ministrations. She pulled away as she felt his fist tighten in her hair, lingering with her tongue. With her eyes up, meeting Blackwall's, she felt his seed spill out onto her lip and tongue. That large hand loosened away from her hair, and Valaena moved up in the water beside her lover. "Up until now, I hadn't heard you moan so much." She wondered out loud as she washed her face.   
"I'm going to have to repay you, you know?"  
"Not right now. We need to get back over to the other side. Dry off. Eat."  
"I plan to eat." Blackwall told Valaena, with the most slight of smirks on his face.  
"I don't even know what to say to that." She answered honestly with a laugh, before she stood and waded into the water. Blackwall watched her, not only watching the sway of her hips, but admiring her intensely. His head dropped back into the shallow water, and all of those thoughts came back to cloud over him. Joining the Inquisition wasn't so bad, but now he was lying to the Warden-Commander of Ferelden as well. He hated himself for it, because he was enthralled by this woman, her purple eyes and the gold tattoos on her face, the pointed ears and pointed fangs, the strength of character and the vulnerability, the honesty and integrity, the intensity she carried with her as well as the good humour she's brought with her through all that she's been through. By the time he stood up. Valaena was already standing by the fire. Her naked body shone in the firelight, and Blackwall knew he didn't deserve her attention. The island was easier to climb up than the bank by the house, and Blackwall squeezed the water from his beard as he crossed the bridge. "We've got dried meats and cheese in my pack, to eat. There's nothing around here to gather, not at this time of day."  
"Dried meat and cheese, it is." Blackwall shrugged. "I'll eat anything."  
"So you've said." Valaena laughed. She pulled her bedroll out, and the food, and settled in by the fire. Naked. 

"Maker's breath, but you're beautiful." 

Blackwall told her as he stood on the other side of the fire. Valaena felt the world drop away from her, and there she was with Alistair again. She saw him as he was then, stupid hair and sweet smile under sweeter eyes. Her hand went to her throat and clutched as she felt the sob rise. He was serious, that sarcasm and smirk gone for a while. Everything about him was tender and loving in that moment, focused on her, and she felt his hands. One on her face and one on the side of her neck. She didn't see Blackwall there, only the golden skin of her first true love. Who abandoned her. "Valaena..." It was Alistair's noble voice that she heard. "Valaena." There it was again, distorted. "Valaena!" Snap. Back to dusk, in the Hinterlands, with Gordon. "Where did you go?" Valaena couldn't bear to speak, if she opened her mouth, those sobs and everything she'd trapped inside her heart would spill out, and she would be laid bare. Weak. Instead, she looked into Blackwall's worried eyes, and the tears came anyway. He moved in closer and planted an honest kiss on her forehead before he pulled her into a safe hug. She leaned into his chest, and sobbed. Her shoulders shook as she let a decade of repressed emotions out, and her tears were hot. They felt like they could have burned the skin. She didn't know how long she sat, naked, with Blackwall's arms surrounding her. 

When she woke up she was wrapped in her blanket, inside the cabin, with a fresh bandage on her foot. All of their things were inside, and Blackwall was beside her with his arm over her. She rolled and nuzzled into him, and he stirred. "How are you feeling this morning?" He asked quietly, his grizzly voice rumbling.  
"Better. I'm sorry."  
"Don't be." His arm tightened around her. Valaena fell back to sleep as the gold sunrise slipped through the gaps in the small house.   
When she woke again, she could smell wild mushrooms and roots frying in a pan with... ram. The smell came in from outside, where Blackwall obviously was. She found her clothes folded on the table, under the chest piece of her armour. Valaena had a feeling Blackwall was a military man before he became a Warden. It only took her a minute to dress in her leathers, then she followed the smell outside. The whole ram bar one leg was already skinned, gutted, and hanging from a tree. "I didn't feel you leave."  
"You were exhausted. I didn't want to wake you." Blackwall told Valaena over his shoulder.  
"And you cooked breakfast."  
"Aye. Didn't eat last night, did you?"  
"Only a large sausage." She didn't want to talk about what happened by the fire.  
Blackwall chuckled, "Aye. Was it good?" He wouldn't push her to talk, either.  
"A little salty, but very good." Their eyes met as Blackwall looked up from the sizzling pan on the fire. Their expressions were mirrors. Fond and happy in this moment, "Thank you for putting up with me, thank you for being with me." But neither of them said anything. They ate in comfortable silence, then Valaena skipped down the sheer bank to fish Blackwall's bloody shirt out of the water. "You could have taken it off before butchering the beast. But at least it's clean, now." Valaena told Blackwall as she held it up over the fire while he fastened her armour to her body. Chest and shoulders strapped on, and to each other. Thigh pieces strapped to her legs and belt. Lower leg pieces strapped to her legs, and the knee pieces above, and they strapped to the thigh pieces above that. Her wrist bracers covered the whole outside of her forearm as a seperate piece. They swapped positions, Blackwall farther from the fire with a partially damp shirt on. His armour was heavier and clumsier, to Valaena. She hadn't touched proper warrior's armour in years. She had to stand on tip-toe to do so, but Valaena moved Blackwall's hair to the side and kissed him on the neck, below and behind his ear. "Stop letting me sleep so late." She whispered to him. Blackwall chuckled.  
"Romantic. I'll have to get you to wait here for a while. That's going to the Inquisition camp nearby." He told her, pointing to the ram carcass.  
"The Inquisition camp is that close?" She asked, eyes narrowed and chin jutting forward.  
"Thought you knew." Blackwall shrugged, hiding a smile from Valaena. A ragged blanket went over his shoulder before the ram, and Blackwall started off over the bridge. Valaena inhaled and exhaled loudly as she watched Blackwall go. And just like that, she was left alone with her thoughts again.

When Blackwall returned, the cabin was closed up and the fire had been quenched. Their packs were leaning against the outside wall, and Valaena was chipping away at the trunk of one of the trees nearby as she practiced her knifework. They hadn't had a fight together yet, but Blackwall was looking forward to it, now. As soon as Valaena turned, he knew he should have announced himself. A snarl melted from her face, and her ears returned to their regular position. "Andruil's arrows!"  
"I know." Blackwall replied as Valaena lowered her knife away from him.   
"Are you sure? You aren't armed at all, and my blood is hot."  
"If I had to die by any hand, I'd prefer it to be yours." Valaena just glared at him.  
"Strap your sword on, you great idiot."  
"Aye, Warden-Commander." He teased before picking his sword up. She glared some more, this time even narrowing her eyes. Valaena didn't strap her pack on properly until she'd rinsed her face in the water, then they set off properly to find the next artefact. They traipsed down a wide valley that took them back out into the flat wilderness. "Here be bears, right?"  
"Aye. Keep your ears sharp."  
"I'm an elf, Gordon." Valaena said as her ears twitched. A noise sailed over to them from the right, and Valaena pointed. "Get ready." The sounds of knives and swords getting drawn seemed to echo as the roaring got closer. Valaena dropped her pack and readied herself for combat with a smoke bomb between her fingers. She turned to face the beast as it came into view, closer to them than she'd anticipated, and hissed as it let out a bellowing roar. She roared back at it before she threw the smokebomb at it's great, clawed feet. Through the smoke she pounced, bouncing forward on the balls of her feet, and landed on it's back. The bear thrashed, and she heard Blackwall trying to get it's attention. The light that filtered through the smoke flashed off shield, helm, and sword. The bear focused that way, ignoring the gnat on it's back. Valaena locked her legs around the bears neck, and drove a knife into it's eye. It didn't kill it, she knew it wouldn't, but a blind bear is easier to kill. It may be more wild and aggressive, but it made more mistakes. She drove her other knife in, and twisted, before pulling both out at once. Blood sprayed, and Blackwall only just got his shield up in time. The bear roared and bucked, Valaena tumbled from it's back and landed on her side, and the bear turned to slam it's giant paws down on her. She rolled, and Blackwall stepped in. His sword drove into the top of the bear's jaw, up through it's snout. Valeana took advantage of her low position to roll between the bear's paws, and she dragged her long knives down the length of it's soft stomach. The hide there was still thick, but she drew blood. A lot of it. By the time she rolled out again, she was covered with bear blood. The bear was losing its life quickly, and had begun to sway. Valeana watched Blackwall face it for a bit. He was nimble and quick, even in that armour. The swipes from the bear would have broken her arm, but they seemed to glance off the shield with little effort on Blackwall's behalf. His sword flashed and struck, piercing the thick skin with ease. Was it the sword or his strong arm that did that? Valeana found herself distracted, and shook herself out of it before jumping back in under Blackwall's flashing sword. Her knife found a slice he'd made on it's neck, and dug. It was a struggle to hold it in there and drag across as the bear moved, trying to kill them before they killed it. But Valaena's knife proved sharp and her arm proved strong enough. This time, she pulled away before the blood started to spew out of the slice, and the bear shuddered before it slumped to the ground. "Do you always just... jump in like that?" Blackwall asked as the bear stopped completely.  
"Usually. Why?" She answered with a shrug.  
"No reason." He admired her complete lack of regard for her life.  
"Darkspawn make fighters like me kill or be killed. I'm no mage or archer, and I have no shield. I either have to sneak and take the legs out, or jump right into the middle of the fray and strike out everywhere. But, you already knew that." They retrieved their packs walked on in silence for a little, until Valaena dropped her pack. "We need the map. But..." She held her bloody, still drying hands out. Blackwall got the hint and dug around for the Hinterlands map. "Right. East north east. The artefact is by the Inquisition camp." He told Valaena before stowing the map away again. "There's an old fort to the south as well. It's got a small lake."  
"Thank the Merciful One." Valaena said with closed eyes.   
They walked on, with the sun westering high above. Soon enough, they found the Inquisition camp, and climbed up the hill surrounding it. "This is no Warden thing." Valaena muttered as she circled a stone shrine in the ground. She circled once more, "It's a grave. Looks to be Dalish, but...clumsy." She knelt down by the flowers placed by it, and spotted the name carved into the stone. "Falon'Din guide you, Senna. Sister. May Mythal watch over your family, and Sylaise keep your home warm." Her hand reached out to rest on the stone, and she shed tears for her mother and father, for Tamlen. Her clan, her family, was lost to the winds and they may as well be walking to Falon'Din with their staffs of oak too. Blackwall stopped his searching when he saw Valaena at the shrine. His hand had been grazing along the bole of a tree, and there he leaned to watch the elf. Some time passed before Valaena stood, unaware of the audience she'd had. Her search for the Warden artefact continued, and they stumbled upon the small tent together. "That," She said, pointing to a feather hanging from the roof support of the tent, "looks like no bird feather I've ever seen."  
"Aye. I wonder what it is."  
"I can take a guess. There's nothing else here of interest." She told Blackwall as he took the feather. He took the lockbox from Valaena's pack, and rested the feather atop the maps inside. "Off to the lake, then?"  
"We should let them know about the bear. Tell them to skin it, take the meat and skin." Valaena replied with a point in the direction of the Inquisition camp.   
"Aye, good idea."  
It was late afternoon by the time Valaena had finished scrubbing the blood from her clothes, and she was trying to convince Blackwall that they should walk back to the main camp, instead of sleeping at the nearby camp for the night. "We've already used up enough time here. We need to move on to the Coast."  
"You know how dangerous even open land can be at night." Blackwall countered.  
"I used to live in a forests full of wolves, bears, and eventually Darkspawn. Of course I know the dangers of night travel."  
"We only have, maybe, an hour of sunlight left."  
"Good. Then we can at least make it back to that cabin before the sun sets." Valaena shrugged, she'd already made up her mind. She'd walk on, even if Blackwall didn't want to. She heard a resigned grumble from his throat. She'd won, and grinned at that. A prickling feeling shot up her back, and she could feel Morrigan approving of her.  
The lazy afternoon sun gave way to russet light bouncing of leaves, and long shadows swallowing up the ground. "Told you we'd be here by at least sunset." Valaena shot a smug grin at Blackwall, who threatened her with, "Shut it, or I'll push you into the water." A smile reached his eyes and took the threat from his words. They were between the two camps when the last of the sunlight left the sky. Valaena's eyes were well adjusted to seeing in the dark, her advantage as an elf over Blackwall as a human. There was fire in the distance that Valaena could see. That would be- should be- the Inquisition camp they're looking for. If not, they may need to fight their way out of something. Valaena unclipped the knives on her belt, just in case. Blackwall had the same thoughts as her, and held his shield up, ready, beside her. "Halt!" A voice called out nearby. "This is an Inquisition outpost. I demand identification."  
"Friend." Blackwall called back, lowering his shield.  
"Warden-Commander Mahariel and Warden Blackwall approach." Valaena added. The scout relayed the names and titles back to the camp, and Valaena heard conversation. "You may approach. Slowly." The duo walked around into the light with hands raised and palms outward. A scout stood with a loosely bound book of thick paper. "Warden-Commander has white hair, yellow tattoos on her face." The book scout said. The first scout verified her identity against the sketch, and nodded. "Warden Blackwall?" They asked. The book scout flipped pages back. "This is what we have for him." They giggled, as they showed the first scout. Valaena stepped forward as that scout burst into laughter as well, and took the book. "Oh, no," she laughed, "I feel like this could be the work of... all of them." She said as she handed the book over to Blackwall. She didn't expect him to laugh, but he did. "Aye. There's Sera's signature, and a glowing hand." Valaena took the book back, and looked at the drawing again. It was a giant beard, with poorly drawn hands and feet floating around it. "Ah. The butt."  
"I'm going to go to sleep." Blackwall told Valaena through a small grin. She placed the book on the table, and turned to the scouts. "You knew us. Did Jahaerys just want to know his reaction?" She asked, jabbing a thumb back over her shoulder to the tent Blackwall had set his shield and boots in front of. "Yes, Ser. We had a raven not long after you left yesterday."  
"Wonderful. Thank you so much for that." She laughed before she crawled into the tent as well. She could almost stand in it, it was so large. Immediately, she began to help Blackwall with his multitude of buckles. "Do they do that often?" She asked.  
"Aye, sometimes. A good laugh is good for everyone. And when they're involved," He added with a nod to the scouts, "it brings morale up for everyone. Makes us and the Inquisitor seem... normal." Valaena smiled at that. Jahaerys was dealing with a different thing altogether to what she did, and he seemed to have taken to it, like a fish to water. Blackwall helped Valaena with her armour, but only undid the minimum of buckles. At her request. Blackwall made a neat pile of his things by the door, and Valaena dropped her things beside that. Then her clothes came off, and she reached outside to drape them over the front of the tent to dry properly. When she turned back into the tent, Blackwall was on the mattress, and had the blanket and fur pulled up to his waist. Obviously it was warm enough for no clothes, but not cool enough to pull the covers right up. He'd already settled in comfortably, and Valaena climbed into the bed next to him. "You smell nice." He muttered without opening his eyes.  
"Thank you. You smell like sweat. But in a good way." Valaena made herself comfortable, using his arm as a pillow.  
"Thank you?" He chuckled.   
"My pleasure."

The fire cracked, and Valaena woke with a start. Her hand went for the knife she'd left by the bed. Blackwall had crawled forward on the bed and motioned for Valaena to stay quiet. "All quiet out here?" He called out. Neither of their mounts had made a sound, Valaena had realised. One of the scouts from earlier called back, and Blackwall was satisfied. The way the mingled fire and moonlight shone off Blackwall's skin caused Valaena to pause. She was mesmerised by him for a moment, before he dropped the tent flap and moved back. She had to swallow a slow gasp, but he looked at her and felt that something as well. His strong hand found the nape of Valaena's neck, and she let herself be pulled into his kiss. Deep and wanting, but restrained and scared. Valaena's hand travelled up his arm to find the side of his neck, and rested there as they kissed. Blackwall was the one to break the kiss, and Valaena was lost with her eyes closed. She felt him lay back down. Her eyes opened just enough to see that he was on his side, and she nuzzled into his chest while her hand found his. Their fingers twisted together, and they fell asleep.

"Warden-Commander! Ser Blackwall!" Came a voice from outside the tent. "Breakfast will be ready shortly!"  
"Thank you!" Valaena called back before she stretched out. Blackwall's hand moved over her stomach as she stretched, up to rest on her breast. "Gordon, I know you're awake." She laughed.  
"Nope." He pulled her close to him and his hand kept wandering.  
"You're insatiable." Valaena whispered back to him, as she felt him pressing against her.  
"It's morning. We made it through another day. I just want to celebrate that." Valaena giggled at him. His dark, brooding demeanor hid the good nature and cheekiness Valaena was really growing fond of. "Then let's celebrate." Valaena answered as Blackwall's hand found it's way between her legs. It was hard to stifle her moan when his fingers entered her, and she felt him smirk behind her. Blackwall's hand was all she needed at that moment, and she gritted her teeth to stop her whimpers escaping as anything more than that while his fingers massaged her. A reprieve came as he drew his fingers out of her, and she turned her head to see him clean them with his tongue. "Oh..." Was all she could manage. His hand disappeared between her legs again, then shot up to cover Valaena's mouth before she cried out. Her teeth dug into the soft part of his hand at the base of his thumb as he entered her. Blackwall's other arm slid between Valaena and the bed, and pinned her wriggling body to him as he thrusted hard into her, over and over. From outside of the tent, nothing could be heard, but the tent did wobble visibly. All of the scouts kept their eyes averted. Valaena lost her breath as she came, and her hand wrapped tightly around Blackwall's wrist. "They all know we're fucking, Commander." Blackwall's deep, breathless voice whispered in her ear. She moaned her answer into his hand. Valaena moved her leg back to hook over Blackwall's, and his hand moved away from her mouth to grasp at that leg. With strength, his hand hooked behind her knee and he pulled her leg up close to her torso. The string of curses she breathed were lost behind sounds of pleasure, from both of them. Blackwall moaned into Valaena's shoulder as he fucked her, and Valaena tried to keep her moans trapped behind her teeth. Blackwall picked up his pace, and she arched her back away from him. All of a sudden, Valaena's head seemed to burst apart in white hot heat, and Blackwall's moan reverberated through her chest. Deep and guttural. Even as he came inside her, he kept going until Valaena's legs became less rigid.  
Slowly, they relaxed into each other. They were both breathing heavily. Valaena picked her head up when she smelled hot food, and spied two bowls filled with porridge and bacon piled high on top. A bowl of steaming water sat next to them, with two washrags in it. She fell back with a laugh. "They definitely know we were fucking, now, Warden." She told him as she pointed to the breakfast. Blackwall let go of a last moan as Valaena pulled her body away from him. "Thank you all." She called out to all of the scouts in the camp, "I'll definitely let the Inquisitor know how accommodating you've all been." They gave her a shy smile or wave, then she disappeared back into the tent. She'd have to thank Jahaerys for sending her out with Blackwall, as well. It's been good for her. Two weeks ago, she would have stayed in the tent until she was dressed and left stone-faced, with only a polite "Thank you," said to the scouts. She felt lighter inside. A smile brightened her face, and she picked a washrag out to wring and hand to Blackwall. "Val?" She looked up as she handed the rag to him. "I didn't mean... you know."  
"It's okay. I know a trick, for when..." When what? Elves get stolen and raped by humans? She couldn't say that. "It's an old Dalish 'tea.' You're bleeding, by the way."  
"You bite hard." Blackwall laughed as he held his hand out.   
Valaena could clearly see the bite mark, and said, "Oops. Sorry." They cleaned themselves off and ate their breakfast. Valaena's clothes had also been folded and placed inside the tent during the night. Before she could pick them up, Blackwall pulled her backwards into him. They had been so physical, and the journey in was filled with their talking and becoming familiar, it wasn't hard to feel completely at ease with him. "We need to get dressed, Valaena." He rumbled, arms still around her waist and not moving. "You've got to stop pinning me down like this."  
"Oh Gordon, I'd love to. But I just can't resist your dark and brooding charm."  
"I'll just have to suffer, I guess." They both laughed, and Valaena stood. All of a sudden, Blackwall's hand collided with her bum, and left a stinging red mark. "Ow!" Valaena squealed with a laugh. "If that's you suffering, I don't want to see you thriving." Blackwall just shrugged back at her, before he reached down for his own clothes. He had to stoop as he stood, and Valaena realised just how much of a height difference there was. She barely had to tilt her head, whereas Blackwall was hunched right over.   
Neither of them wore their armour, instead they packed it all away properly and put it on the grass outside the tent. It took only a half hour until they were mounted and ready to leave.   
The two were in good spirits, and the scouts barely looked them in the eye.  
Valaena couldn't help but laugh at that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something, something, something, slavers...

They had to strike west before they turned north east, and the weather became worse the further they rode. They stopped a few times to shelter when the rain became too heavy, and there Valaena made the tea for herself. A few doses, and she would have no fear of...well. She'd never been to the Storm Coast, but she already hated it. The land was at a hundred different levels, and the ground was damp. "I've changed my mind. We walk down the beach. Find the Darkspawn there, kill them. Go inland to find the Warden stuff. Back to the beach. Walk. Go inland to kill Darkspawn. Beach." She growled. It was miserable. "The only good thing about this place is the name matches it absolutely."  
"We've got to go north of the camp a little to find the first tunnel."  
"Because of course we do." She couldn't help but roll her eyes.

They left the Inquisition forward camp the same day they arrived, after eating and tea, with a large pouch of explosives strapped to Valaena. There were only three Darkspawn at the first mark, and Valaena took the two smaller ones out while Blackwall fought the large one. It was an easy fight, and the cleansing rune in her sword only helped. Their armour was sparse, and there were no protective layers beneath the armour. Valaena skidded around the large Darkspawn, and held her sword aloft as she collided with the first of the smaller ones. She struck up through it's stomach, and it screeched as the sword jutted out of it's back. The cleansing rune burned it inside, as if it had been poisoned. Valaena drew her sword from it and the black blood bubbled and boiled off the blade. The second one leapt at her before she could look up and she was knocked to the ground. It pinned her arms to the ground with it's feet and leaned it's face too close to her's to hiss at her. Valaena headbutted it and black blood spurted from it - lips or nose, it didn't matter. It scrambled back with a screech, and Valaena swiped the inside of her blue sleeve across her eyes. A running leap made her land right on the Darkspawn, and both her knife and sword plunged downwards, into either side of it's neck. The gurgling sound it made was satisfying. It was a sound Valaena became all too used to down in the Deep. As she laughed, a mirthless, hollow laugh, she tasted Darkspawn in her mouth. It was bitter like vomit and bile, she spat it out. Black as night, it shone on the ground near the dying Darkspawn with their life leaking from them.   
Her eyes were dark when she looked back to Blackwall, he didn't fail to notice her eyes and the Darkspawn blood spattered through her hair and on her face. She decided she was fine, and began setting the explosives around the cave. Just inside the cave, a row was set. One on each wall, and two thrown and stuck to the roof. Valaena repeated the process at the mouth of the cave, then twisted all of the fuses together. "Go. Step back. This would've been much easier with a mage."  
"That's why he's here." She heard Blackwall say from behind her. She looked over her shoulder, and there was the Inquisitor himself. "Couldn't have been here ten minutes ago?" She asked, not politely. Jahaerys and Blackwall shared a look.  
"I was accosted on the road by admiring fans. Move out of the way, Valaena. Wash that off." He told the Warden-Commander, gesturing to her head. She huffed as she walked off to where the sea lapped on the shore. "The explosives were the back-up plan. If I didn't show. Didn't they tell you?" The Inquisitor called out to Valaena.  
"No one mentioned it." Blackwall answered for her. Jahaerys made a grab and pull motion at the explosives, and they landed at his feet. "She was right, though. This is much easier with a mage." Jahaerys grinned as he set his feet. Boulders inside and outside the cave began to glow, matching the magic glow of Jahaerys' hands. He looked strained for a moment before they all fell into place and fused. Jahaerys looked to make sure Valaena was still away from them, and spoke to Blackwall quietly. "Was that... normal?"  
"From what I've seen, no." Blackwall was worried, and he didn't hide it.  
"You need to ask her about it. That is, if the postscript of the Hinterland's most recent report is true..." Jahaerys interrogated lightly.  
"Gossip travels fast, nowadays." Blackwall grumbled, and clasped his hands in front of him.  
"I'll take that as a yes. In the main camp though, Blackwall?" Jahaerys asked with a laugh. Blackwall shrugged, and a small chuckle pricked at the corner of his mouth. Finally, Valaena left the water and stalked back to the Inquisitor and Blackwall. Her legs were soaked, and she looked like she'd dunked herself headfirst into a barrel of water. "Let's go." She told the men as she sheathed her weapons. Jahaerys gave Blackwall another meaningful look. The walk was quiet. The atmosphere created by Valaena as she led the way up the beach was heavy, pressing. Jahaerys was the one to break the silence by pointing out the caves they needed to cleanse. "Part of an old dwarven ruin. I personally suspect it was just a small alehouse, but others think different. Either way, there are no doorways leading away."  
"Let's slay some 'Spawn." Was all Valaena said as she walked into the dark cave. The Inquisitor's mark lit the area quite well, but Valaena pulled her flintbox out of a pocket on her belt to light the torches she saw adorning the old walls. Snarls traveled down the passageway, and her ears flicked. "I'd say four." She added, with a glance back at her companions, before she melted into the shadows. 'Thank the creators for Zev.' She thought to herself. Extensive training from an Antivan Crow could never hurt, even if the Crow in question was an exile.   
Blackwall's heavy boots distracted the Darkspawn, and not one noticed her as she crept between pillars and through the shadows. The first one died with it's throat sliced open. The second one was caught in a flash and paralysed mid-step, then an inferno roared around it. The third roared past the flash of the inferno catching, and Blackwall caught it on his shield. He parried a stroke with his sword, and bashed it with his shield. That was all Valaena caught before she jumped on the back of the fourth one, the largest one, with a shout. It roared and swung it's warhammer around, it shook around to try and dislodge Valaena. Her unshod feet gripped hard, but one slipped as the hurlock bucked. "Shit." She breathed to herself. She'd forgotten about the bandage. It was still wet.   
Shit.  
She dug her knife under the creature's collarbone before she dropped off it, and was successful. She thought she had it until the hurlock charged backwards into one of the mighty stone pillars. Valaena had the wind knocked from her, but even as she struggled to breathe, she dug her other knife sideways into the Darkspawn's throat. There was a red flash, and the hurlock was knocked back into the pillar, once... twice... thrice. "Valaena!" Blackwall called out. She heard his shield drop, and a great bellowing roar that could not have come from him. But the world went black. "Finally." Was the last thing Valaena thought, in that moment.

Jahaerys watched it all as if it were in slow motion. He hadn't seen the Warden Commander on the beast's back. The clanging of Blackwall's shield on the stone floor was the only thing to warn him otherwise. He was horrified, this kind of mistake gets his friends killed, as he knew too well. He stumbled backward as Blackwall charged forward, and dropped to the ground. Blackwall's sword sheared through the Darkspawn's leg with ease. It made a gurgling, a sound that would have been loud and pained had it not had an assassin's long knife through it's throat. When it fell to the ground, Blackwall stabbed down right through it's battered iron helm. It died in an instant, and Blackwall pulled Valaena's daggers from it before it fell. They clattered to the ground near his shield. Jahaerys watched as Blackwall picked the beast up and tossed it to the side. He had been set with such a rage, and it all subsided when he picked the white-haired elf up from where she was slumped on the ground. Jahaerys saw Blackwall's mouth move, but nothing registered. "Jahaerys!" His eyes snapped up to Blackwall. "Grab our stuff. Come on." Jahaerys nodded and Blackwall began to walk out. He pulled Blackwall's sword from the hurlock first, and piled the arms into the shield. Blackwall's pack fit oddly on him, and it was heavy. Jahaerys had to do his job and close the Darkspawn's tunnel first. He kept faltering with it, but it was done. The shield fit awkwardly against his hip, and Blackwall was waiting at the opposite mouth to the one they entered from. As soon as he spotted Jahaerys, he began to walk with her pack dangling from his arm. Valaena's head lolled as Blackwall's long steps sailed him up the beach, that was all Jahaerys could focus on. Finally, Blackwall turned off the beach and began to trek up a hill. Jahaerys found him moving Valaena onto her bedroll. The blood rushed from his face as he watched hers. "Is-"  
"She's breathing."  
"I-"  
"Didn't see her. Stop. You'll only make it harder for yourself." Blackwall told Jahaerys as he ushered the Inquisitor to sit. In moments like this, it was easy to see how young the Inquisitor really was. Barely of age. Barely an adult. "Please make sure she knows I didn't-" The words caught in his throat, and all of a sudden he relived the Templar attack on his clan, before he came of age. His intense grey-blue eyes fixed on Valaena, and didn't move again.

It was dark when Valaena woke, and she thought she was still in the dwarven ruin. Her knives were gone, and she panicked until she saw the fire burning nearby. Panic was replaced with confusion. She stopped and looked around. There were stars beyond the shadow above her, a tree that reached out with yearning fingers. Jahaerys was asleep beside her, with what looked like Blackwall's blanket under his head. Then Blackwall was beside her. "Valaena." He began, soft but intense. "Do you know where you are?"  
"Not completely." She answered. "I was on the Storm Coast last I remember." She heard a sigh of relief. "What happened?"  
"An accident. He didn't see you on the beast's back. Wanted me to assure you he didn't mean it. He sat up watching you all night, 'til he passed out. I don't think he knows he's asleep."  
"Oh." Was all she could manage as she looked at Jahaerys. The scars on his face made him seem older when he was awake, but in sleep he only looked young. She felt Blackwall's arm slide around her shoulders. He was warm, and she leaned into him. "Did he kill it?"  
"No."  
"So you did?"  
"Aye."  
"What happened?" Valaena queried.  
"Cut a leg off and stabbed it."  
A whole leg. She was impressed, but, "That's not the full story." Blackwall didn't reply. She'd get the full story from the Inquisitor when he woke.   
"Oh, thank the Creators!" Valaena and Blackwall both looked back at Jahaerys at his exclamation. "Inquisitor." Valaena smiled. Jahaerys half ran, half stumbled over to wrap his arms around Valaena. She was taken aback, but didn't push him away. He was genuinely relieved, she could see that in his face. "The merciful one truly was merciful." He added, with a touch to Valaena's vallaslin.  
"You know clan Mahariel's markings?" She asked, curious.  
"Not entirely. Yours is more angular, but I recognised Falon'Din's mark."  
"I had no oak to feel my way. He wouldn't let me through." She joked. Jahaerys sighed his worry away. Blackwall yawned beside Valaena, and she ushered him to sleep. How resistant he was. "I'd like to stay awake."  
"I'm here to keep an eye on her, Blackwall." Jahaerys jumped in from Valaena's other side. "If anything, happens, you'll be woken." Blackwall gave them both a look, before he moved to the bedroll. Valaena watched him, and in moments, he was sleeping. "Did you draw that beard?" Valaena asked quietly.  
"Which-?  
"In the identification manuscript."  
"Oh, yes. I did."  
Valaena laughed, "It was really well drawn, and Creators, his face for a second."  
"I wish I could have seen it. Did he laugh?"  
"Loudly." She assured. "By the way... what happened?" Valaena asked more seriously. Jahaerys was hesitant to answer. He still felt terrible. "Inq- Jahaerys, fenorain." He looked up at Valaena, guilt in his eyes. "I've probably been through worse."  
"Ir abelas, asa'ma'lin." He told her in elvhen. - I am sorry, sister.  
"Do not be sorry. You did not set out to harm me, did you?" She asked.  
"No." He paused. "You were on the Darkspawn, and I didn't see you. I kept hitting it," He told her, miming his magic, "then I heard Blackwall drop his shield. He called for you, and everything began to slow down for me. He... roared at the Darkspawn, and ran at it. I saw you begin to slide to the ground, and he ran at the thing. His sword sliced through it's leg, then went down into it's head. I was paralysed, stuck on the ground. Blackwall picked you up and made me come back to my senses. He left the cave, and now we're here."  
"The cave is blocked?" Valaena asked slowly, not taking her shining eyes from the fire. That was him. She didn't know a human could make such a sound.  
"Lethallan..."  
"I am fine, Jahaerys." She assured yet again, her hand moving to his arm. "Rest has healed me. A slight concussion and winding will not kill me. An Archdemon couldn't." Jahaerys let a small laugh slip through his teeth. "But... I noticed a particular... glow about you when I saw you fighting. Are you Dirth'ena Enasalin?"  
"We're called "Knight-Enchanters" by the shems now, but yes."  
"Mythal'enaste. It was different, but... In my travels during the Blight, we came upon an Elvhen ruin. It'd been inhabited by werewolves - and that's a completely different story. A little convoluted. In those ruins, I found a small library, I think. There was a phylactery that had been there for a hundred, hundred years. It taught me the skills of the Dirth'ena Enasalin, so that I could pass that knowledge onto a mage. It's own memories from the peak of our peoples flooded into my mind, before I gave it the mercy it sorely wanted."  
"What?" Jahaerys asked in disbelief.  
"I found-"  
"No, I heard. It's- An elf guided me, but I had no idea this style of fighting came from the Elvhenan!"  
"It did. You are more in touch with our people than you know," Valaena smiled, "tool of June."  
"So, you know clan Lavellan?" Jahaerys asked as Valaena had asked him earlier on.  
"No, it was just a lucky guess." She shot back.

The elves talked for some time, but lied down to sleep as the sky began to lighten. Valaena set Blackwall's bedroll down beside her own, and the two elves settled in there. Valeana snuggled into Blackwall, and Jahaerys into her. 'What a man-sandwich I'm in.' She thought to herself with a silent laugh.

When she woke, she was facing Jahaerys and Blackwall's arm was tight around her. She kicked them both awake, gently. Only a few hours had passed since she and Jahaerys had put their heads down, and the sun was still very easterly. Valaena was thirsty. She pushed herself out from under the warm blanket to find her water skin, and drank deeply. "How are you feeling, Val?" She heard Blackwall asked as she swiped a hand over her lips.  
"Good, ma vhenan." She froze, and thought to herself, 'Fenhedis! Valaena! What the fuck!?'  
"Good." That was Blackwall and Jahaerys speaking together. She turned, and Jahaerys was smirking at her with one brow raised. She shot a look back at him, saying 'shut it, don't you DARE say anything, or I will murder. I don't care if you're the Inquisitor.' Blackwall seemed to have missed it, and she was thankful. He was at the fire, softening some dried meat over the still hot coals. "Valaenaaaa." Jahaerys called, quietly sing-song.  
"Don't. I'll tell Leliana you've been bothering me."  
"Oh no. Not Leliana. She'll yell at me." Jahaerys replied with an appropriate look of terror.  
"Come and eat, you two." Blackwall called back to them. Valaena sat on the grass with her legs crossed, and took the meat he held out to her. "We have to catch something to eat today."  
"Aye. I'm getting tired of cured meats." Blackwall agreed as Jahaerys joined them.  
"I'm almost useless with a bow." The Inquisitor interjected.  
"I'm not. Nor is he." Valaena said, pointing to Blackwall.

With their small camp packed away, the fire watered, and the rogue and warrior armoured, the trio walked on. Valaena had her bow ready, and Jahaerys carried her pack for her as she ran light-footed to and fro, looking for birds. She cried out in anger as two scouts walked by and scared some birds from a tree. She heard Jahaerys call out from behind her as the scouts both drew their swords. "Stay your swords, scouts!" He held his left hand aloft, and the scouts sheathed their swords before saluting the Inquisitor.  
"Your... Inquisitorialness?" One of them said, she seemed to be a woman. "We were sent from the forward camp when you didn't return yesterday. We were charged with delivering this to you." They said, holding a pack with vials of lyrium glowing through the front pocket and a pair of boots dangling off the strap. "Ah. Thank you, scout-"  
"Tellen, Ser."  
"Thank you scout Tellen. You may return to your post. Send a raven to Sister Nightingale, Lady Montilyet, Commander Rutherford, And Altus Pavus. I have arrived safely. Let them know all is well."  
"Yes, Ser." Scout Tellen and her companion saluted once again before turning back to the forward camp.  
"I'll take Valaena's." Blackwall told the Inquisitor as he held his hand out. "It's true, then?" He asked as he took Valaena's pack and hooked it over one shoulder.  
"What's true?" Jahaerys asked warily.  
"You and Dorian." Blackwall replied.  
"Yes." Jahaerys replied uneasily.  
"He's a good man. I wish you both happiness." Blackwall's reply was not what Jahaerys had expected. He knew there were shems that didn't approve of same-sex relations. He was relieved Blackwall wasn't one of those shems. Though he doubted many - if any - of his inner circle was concerned with anyone else's sexual orientation. Valaena said nothing, she would rather not spoil his happiness with her own experiences. Instead, she crept forward to where a bird sat on a tree. Slowly, she lined her shot. The bowstring twanged, and her arrow flew true. The bird dropped out of the tree with a small thud. Her arrow went where she put it, straight through the bird's neck. She picked it up by the arrow, and kept leading the way down the valley.

"Oh. Oh my. Creators." Valaena breathed as she looked through the sheaf of papers. "We've found the treaties. Again. Gordon, Inquisitor. Look." She held the papers out, thin fingers gentle on the old pages. They were locked in the same small chest Valaena had found them in all those years ago, when she met Morrigan for the first time. Either that, or there were multiple copies all stored in different chests of the same design. Either way, she'd recognised it immediately. Blackwall volunteered himself to carry it. The chest was small enough to fit in his pack, and he emptied it out to fit the chest comfortably at the bottom of it.   
Valaena led them on once more, but she was still close enough to hear the quiet conversation Jahaerys began with Blackwall. "She calls you Gordon."  
"Aye."  
"No one calls you Gordon."  
No answer.  
"Are you two... together?" Valaena couldn't help her ears pricking.  
"No. She's better than me." Blackwall answered after a bit. That wasn't what she was expecting him to say. She should stop eavesdropping. "I don't understand." Thank you, Jahaerys. Make him explain.  
"You know what she's done. She's a hero, the Hero."  
"And you earned the Silverite Wings of Valour for what? Sitting on your arse?"  
"That's different." Blackwall muttered.  
"You need some better excuses."  
"She's... too good. Funny, kind, open, honest, strong of heart. Someone better needs to come along and sweep her off her feet." Valaena didn't know how intently Blackwall was watching her, how his blue eyes clouded over. "She dated the king. The king dropped her for that Anora woman after she," he jabbed a finger at Valaena, "ended the Blight. I don't think she wants a "better" man. Not some noble or whatever. She wants you."  
"And how do you know that?" Valaena ducked to the side, pretending she heard something moving. She was still within earshot.   
"I... have talked to her." Jahaerys said slowly.  
"What did she tell you?" Blackwall pushed.  
"She called you "ma vhenan" before."  
"Aye."  
"It means "my heart."" Jahaerys watched Blackwall's face as they walked. The big man was stunned. "My heart?"  
"Yep."  
"Maker."

A lazy river came into view, and Valaena dropped to the ground to pull a map from her bag. She didn't need to look at it for long to figure out what she wanted. "Up here." She pointed up-river. "There's Darkspawn."  
"And bears. And spiders." Jahaerys added.  
"Bears, bears, bears. Don't they know their own?" Valaena asked, looking at Blackwall with a half hidden smile.  
"I gave up that life, Valaena. They don't take kindly to us who forgo the wild ways." Blackwall said with false seriousness.   
"Damn." She replied. "I hoped you could talk with them, parley perhaps, instead of having to fight another one." Jahaerys watched them joke easily, then led the way. Valaena followed, in step beside Blackwall, close behind the Inquisitor. The rain began again as they walked. Fat, heavy drops splashed down on them but the sun shone through the clouds as well. "Stop here for a second." Valaena said as she sat on a rock. The bandage on her foot was bothering her now. As soon as she pulled it off, the scab on her sole began to itch but she resisted and stepped into the slow water. "Let's go." She announced with a step upstream. The few rams they saw scattered at the sight of them, and Jahaerys led the group in the run from a brown bear. The cave mouth yawned up ahead of them, and every step brought it closer. Through the rain, it just looked like a void. 

Valaena had the idea of stowing their packs outside of the cave, in the crevices of the basalt cliff. They found a spot away from the waterfall, and set their packs on old branches and under leafy branches. They may have been proofed against water, but Valaena didn't know if the flaming eye and sword of the Inquisition on her companions bags would deter bandits and highwaymen. At the mouth of the cave again, Jahaerys shuddered as he looked into the gloom. Valaena was used to fighting in the gloom, against spiders and 'Spawn, both, and she set forward first.

The familiar skittering sounded all around, and Valaena pointed to her left. "Fire!" She yelled to Jahaerys. A ball of fire exploded on the back of a giant spider, and it screeched. Another ran at Valaena around the natural pillar of rock she was passing. She jumped, and landed on it's back. The skin was smooth and like cured leather, but living. She always hated that feeling. Her arms crossed as she struck down at the spider, and she ripped them across to sever it's abdomen from the rest of it's body. She turned as it screeched, and stabbed both hands together down into it's many-eyed head. "Disgusting." She remarked as she stood again. Both of her companions looked impressed. "What? They're just spiders. Take their legs off, they're harmless. Take the back part off, they become easy to kill. The hairy ones catch fire easily."  
"Aye. Because we all love to fight giant spiders." Blackwall said.  
"I agree with him." Jahaerys piped up.  
"Duck!" Blackwall yelled, and Valaena did. She watched Blackwall throw his sword over her head, it spun through the air, and thudded into something behind her. "Well, shit." She heard the Inquisitor say. She turned to she a spider twitching on the ground, with Blackwall's sword buried in it's head. "Well, shit, indeed." She agreed, as she tried to wrench his sword out of the spider. She couldn't. Blackwall swaggered up beside Valaena, and pulled the sword with ease. She watched him walk off and kill another spider. He hacked it's front legs off, it pounced and Blackwall struck out with his shield. The spider fell to the side, and Valaena felt Jahaerys step up beside her. "He adores you. He hasn't shown off like that for anyone else." The spider was up and jumping at Blackwall again. He kept his shield up, then it reared and his shield dropped as his sword came up. "You've seen him naked. Does he look as good as I've been told?"  
"Better." Valaena couldn't help but laugh. "Don't tell him I said that, though. I compliment him enough to his face." Blackwall looked back to the elves, one watching him dreamily, the other with a laugh on his lips.   
They began to follow Blackwall, and Jahaerys pointed out the direction of the Darkspawn. "I've been over all of our maps a thousand times each. It's a nightmare in the war room sometimes." Valaena could feel the Darkspawn nearby, and her blood sang that song that had her being so incredibly rude to the younger elf at the first Darkspawn outpost. 'How does he stand it?' She thought as she watched Blackwall walk.

The Darkspawn came into view. They were patrolling the area around their tunnel in the rock, and Valaena lost herself in the half-light of the cave. Her right hand swapped the knife for her runed sword again, and she saw Jahaerys adopt an attacking stance by Blackwall's side. His staff was still on his back, but he held something in his hand. Valaena had no doubt she'd find out what, very shortly. Blackwall hit his sword against his shield, and made himself become the largest target on the field. The Darkspawn charged, three at once, toward the warrior. A fourth ran at Jahaerys, and his unmarked hand glowed before a sword made of magic and glowing light shot out of it. The Darkspawn didn't seem to know what happened as it ran through him. "Conjure more! Help him!" She yelled out at Jahaerys. He knew he wouldn't see Valaena, and didn't bother to look around before making at attempt at more swords of light. She leapt and rolled over the stunted grass when she saw more Darkspawn running to the fight. She caught them easily, and both of her hands struck out at their ankles. Black blood spewed forth, and they screamed as they fell, unable to walk any longer. Jahaerys had one ghostly sword striking at the Darkspawn crowding Blackwall, and Valaena sped toward them. Blackwall was doing more with his shield than his sword, something Valaena fixed by stabbing her own sword through the back of a genlock. She wiggled it as she pulled away, and she saw Blackwall strike out to lop the head off one of the other genlock. Blood fountained from it's neck as it's knees buckled beneath the headless body. Jahaerys jabbed out with his arcane sword, and it sailed through the beast he had been fighting. Valaena and Blackwall stuck the last one at the same time, both surprised when a blade popped through the Blight skin of the Darkspawn. It gurgled, and slumped. Valaena pulled her long knife from it first, then Blackwall pushed it from his sword with his boot.   
All that was left were the two Valaena had hamstrung. They were trying to drag themselves back into the hole they came from, but Valaena walked around in front of them. Her sword and knife got laid gently on the rocky ledge of the wall, and Valaena instead picked up a very large rock. "You aren't leaving." She told them with a cold, dry voice. The rock dropped from her hands, and landed on the first one. It's skull buckled and burst. Viscera splashed all around, landing on grass and Valaena's bare feet. Her hand found a smaller rock, and she knelt down on the last one's back. Her face was devoid of any emotion as she smashed the rock into it's skull repeatedly. She was only satisfied that it was done when the back of it's head was a crater.

They all washed in the waterfall at the entrance to the cave, and left to find a spot to camp. Neither Blackwall or Jahaerys approached Valaena about her actions inside the cave. Blackwall spotted an overhang of rock that might be a decent camping spot. They inspected and agreed. Bedrolls were laid down, and Valaena left to shoot another bird. The one she caught earlier in the day wouldn't be enough for them all. Blackwall dropped his plate armour then left to gather wood, and Jahaerys stayed to watch the camp. Valaena crept through the wooded area behind their camp with an arrow loose against the bow. She could hear Blackwall somewhere to her right, and coming closer. She turned to see him approaching, empty handed. "Talk to me." He demanded of her. She just sneered and turned back around. "Valaena." His voice was lower than normal.   
"You can't feel it?" She asked as she raised her bow. Blackwall stayed silent. "I despise them and the fucking song." Her words clipped her teeth as they left her mouth. "I hate everything about being a Warden, but everything that we represent? I can't just leave that. And I won't succumb to the Song." Her shot punctuated her words, and a bird squawked as it was hit. Then it fell. Her shot wasn't clean. Blackwall's arms encircled her. "I understand." He told her. "I know what the Wardens mean to people."  
Valaena pushed away, and went to collect the bird. Blackwall didn't pursue. He set out, instead, to do what he told the Inquisitor he'd do.

Jahaerys was plucking the second bird when Blackwall returned. "When did she come back?"  
"She didn't. This dropped from up there with the arrow in it. Bow as well." Jahaerys pointed with the dead bird to the rocky overhang above their encampment. "Maker damn it all." Blackwall growled as the wood tumbled from his arms. He wasn't going to leave the Inquisitor without a fire, though, and set about building one. "Blackwall. Go. I can do that. It's not difficult for me to light a fire, remember." Jahaerys commanded.

Valaena sat on a fallen log, her fingers played in the moss growing upon it's decaying body. This time, she didn't hear Blackwall until she heard him breathing behind her. She didn't turn around, waiting for him to speak first.  
But he didn't.  
Hands wrapped around her mouth and throat, and they weren't Gordon's hands. Valaena screamed and clawed, and more hands bound her arms. Her feet kicked out, then they were grabbed as well. "Another one for the collection!" The mouth attached to the hands around her face called. That was no Fereldan or Marcher. Definitely not Orlesian.   
If Blackwall was looking for her, he'd hear her screams.   
She bit down into the fleshy part of the man's hand, and he moved it from her face but tightened his grip on her neck. "Bellanaris din'an heem Mythal!" She screeched.  
"Shut your mouth, Dalish bitch." Another voice said to her as a rope tightened around her legs. Valaena kicked again, and again, and her feet collided with a chin. A fist collided with her face, and she spat the blood pooling in her mouth at the man who punched her. "Dirthara-mar." She snarled at him in a hoarse voice. Her attackers had crowded her, her hands were bound, and she had no knives. They were a mix of Thedosians, and definitely slavers.

For once, since the Blight, Valaena was terrified for her life.

Her eyes were wide, she couldn't breathe properly, she couldn't think clearly, the Song was loud. The men and women around her didn't seem to care for the Grey Warden sigils all over her shirt. Then all of a sudden one disappeared. Meaty thuds echoed bluntly through the trees, and the slavers began to panic. Valaena was dropped back onto the log, she landed on her hands and rolled over onto her stomach. Swords, cutlasses, axes were drawn, and the slavers were trying to look through the trees as they backed toward Valaena. She slid backward off the log, and landed on her bum. She could pull her tied hands around below her feet and back in front of her from that position, and she untied her legs. At least they were free. She didn't see the next person dragged from the small clearing, but heard the meaty thuds again. The slavers were panicking now, and one grabbed Valaena. He pulled her up from the ground, and she used that momentum to propel herself up further into a flip to land on his shoulders. She closed her thighs around his neck, and gripped tight. The man began to panic, and Valaena shoved the rope between her wrists into his mouth. Blackwall heard the commotion and appeared from behind a tree to see Valaena on the shoulders of a slaver, suffocating him. Then the rest of them attacked. Not counting the one Valaena had ahold of, there were three. Armed. And Blackwall was not. He wore only a blue undershirt, no plate, no mail. He hadn't expected an attack, only Valaena.   
He charged in at the swords recklessly, and Valaena twisted the man's neck broken before she sprung from his shoulders. "Gordon!" She shouted, as she held her bound hands up. He twisted and slipped through the attackers, and grabbed the slack rope between her wrists. She went sideways through the air, her feet connected with something, and she moved like a cat through the air once Blackwall had let her go. He tackled one of the slavers left to the ground, and Valaena jumped at the other. She could see Blackwall from the corner of her eye straddled over the slaver, with his fists raining down onto his face. She landed on her last attacker's chest and the helm was knocked from her head and the air from her lungs. Valaena's tied fists came down together, and soon enough the woman beneath her blacked out with blood covering her face.  
Valaena dropped back onto the grass, and panted. She hadn't fought with her hands bound for a long time. Blackwall used the clothes of the man he'd beated down to wipe the blood from his hands before he crawled over to Valaena. "I'm a lucky woman." She told him. He chuckled and picked a sword up to cut through the rope around Valaena's hands. "So. Vhenan."


	5. Swapping Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valaena and Blackwall find their way back to Skyhold. Cullen's there.

With the Darkspawn tunnels closed, the Inquisitor left once more. He was to go to Skyhold, and then leave soon after that for Dirthavaren. The two elves spoke at some length about their people, and the Dirth. Valaena decidede she would be going there after she and Blackwall had completed their mission. Valaena bid Jahaerys goodbye with a hug and well wishes.

The river had been central to their journey over the last two days, and now Valaena was wading up through it again as Blackwall walked on the bank. They traveled past rocky and sheer cliffs until Blackwall spied a worn path between the rock. He turned away, and Valaena followed. The walking was silent. Ever since he'd brought up Valaena calling him 'vhenan' after the fight with the slavers, she had felt awkward. A thirty-three yeard old woman feeling awkward. That thought just made her worse. "I think we'll find it around here." Blackwall told her as he looked toward an area ahead of them. There were rocks jutting up out of the earth everywhere, and Valaena sprung up onto one to survey the area from above. "Is that it, there?" She called out, pointing.  
"Looks to be, aye." Blackwall called back after a few moments. Valaena dropped down and ran over to join Blackwall. Another lacklustre tent stood, this worse than the last. But something caught her eye in the rubble that passed for ground. "I wonder who this belonged to..." She muttered as she cleaned the grime off it with her hand. Suddenly it shone in the sun, a Warden-Commander's badge. The same as the one Valaena wore, hidden, under leather and armour. There was enough room in the pockets on her belt, and there Valaena stowed the badge. "It doesn't look like there's anything else of interest. Let's go to the Emprise, I guess." Valaena shrugged after looking around in the dirt.  
The two made it to the bandit outpost turned Inquisition outpost, and it took little convincing on Valaena and Blackwall's behalf to be let in. The leader got called over and recognised Blackwall, from the Inquisitor's visit those weeks ago. That was all it took. They ate a fresh stew that night. "Creators, this is better than anything I've ever had before, ever." Valaena mumbled into her bowl. She glanced up at Blackwall, "Well, maybe not anything I've ever had..." Blackwall snorted a laugh into his stew, and had to set it aside as he coughed. 

The night became long with talk and laughter by the fireside. Valaena was convinced by the bandits to relay her story, once they'd found out she was the Hero of Ferelden, and she did. The wine they'd shared helped her along, flourishing and acting parts out, and she was quick to laugh. By the time she left for bed, the moon was over halfway done with her journey. Her head was slow, and that made her fingers clumsy. "Stop. Let me-" Blackwall appeared in front of her, and the door of the small cabin swung shut by itself. He either didn't drink as much as Valaena, or could hold his liquor better, but all Valaena knew was that his fingers worked. They undid her buckles, belts, and helped her from her clothes, then his hands helped her into the bed. She snuggled in, then opened her eyed to see Blackwall folding her things. "Are you going to come to bed?" She asked. Her words were too lubricated, and ran together as she talked. "I will." Blackwall replied, then asked, "What does "ma vhenan" actually mean?"  
"My heart. We use it for loved ones. Children, our closest friends, our lovers..." She lightly slurred. Blackwall wanted badly to tell her not to call him that, but kept his own negativity hidden. When he turned back to look at Valaena, she was asleep. He undressed slowly, and climbed into the bed. Her hair was like moonlight made tangible, and her skin was smoother than silk on glass. Blackwall would leave if he could. He should.

They were woken and breakfasted in the early morning. Valaena's head was groggy, but she was in good spirits and ate all of the food she was given. After that, she scoured over the map to plot their course to the Emprise. "Gordon." She called to him, distracting him from arms practice with the Inquisition allies. He took a hit before they all realised what had happened, then left to a "Sorry!"  
"What about if we go... this... way?" Her finger traced around the southern edge of the Waking Sea, between Lake Calenhad and the coast, and over the northern tip of the Frostbacks.  
"Aye. That'd work. Take longer going through the mointains."  
"That's what I thought. So, I thought, go around them. It's too cold up on them, as well."  
"The leader here's given us supplies."  
"We'll refresh stuff at the forward camp, as well. Just in case." Valaena added. She liked to be prepared.

 

"Falon'ghilana?" Valaena asked her hart. It seemed to nod as it exhaled with a snuffle. "A friend to guide me. I'm glad you like it." Valaena grinned at her hart, before she climbed onto it's back. They had been riding for a day and a half, and were now passing the northernmost tip of Lake Calenhad. The barge they took to cross the river unsettled both of their mounts, and Valaena didn't expect the softness Blackwall treated his horse with. She should have, but she didn't. They angled toward the coast once they were back on land, keeping the hills and mountains to their left. "Has your horse got a name?" Valaena asked as they rode.  
"One of the kids at Skyhold named him. Storm."  
"That's sweet. Did you take him out and ask for names?"  
"Aye. It was Lady Josephine's idea."  
"She's pretty." Valaena commented. She was still being awkward. She felt stupid.  
"I think they need a rest." Blackwall told her, referring their mounts. He rode ahead to scout for an area to camp, and flagged Valaena down into a grove. She turned off the lightly used path and dropped from her hart to walk the perimeter of the grove. It was nice. Everything was green, and there were some tulips growing by the edge amongst other flowers. Sunlight came down through the trees in golden shafts, and formed puddles on the vivid grass. "I like it." She said, with one of the tulips in her hand. 

Before long, they had their camp set up. Valaena had tied her hair into a high ponytail, and was rubbing a salve on her neck and wrists. The slavers had done mostly cosmetic damage, but she still didn't like it, nor how it looked. Blackwall walked back into the clearing with another armful of dead wood, and dropped it away from the fire. Her hart looked up, then settled back in to rest. Neither of their steeds had been hobbled or tied. The horse had been too well trained, and the wild hart was intelligent, and Valaena had made friends with it easily. She treated it nicely and it was content with her. Valeana expected Blackwall to sit and play with the fire, but he sat behind her on the bedrolls and began to massage up her shoulders and neck. Creators, it felt good. Her neck had been stiff for days, and she relaxed into his hands. Valaena began to suspect Blackwall didn't actually suggest the rest for the hart and horse, but for her. His thumbs pressed into the soft part of her head, where the skull met the neck, and she closed her eyes. All of the tension there was being released and Valeana felt lighter already. Then she felt Blackwall's hand creep around to rest lightly on her neck under her chin, and she moved back with it. It was a loving touch, unlike the one that bruised her so. Her back rested on his chest, and her head was back against his shoulder. His other arm rested around her stomach, and she felt the beating of his heart speed up. They both fell far too fast, their feelings grew, choking their common sense like weeds in a flowerbed. "Where is Dirthavaren?" Valaena felt Blackwall's voice as much as she heard it. It was deep and gravelly and ...sexy. "Shems call it the Exalted Plains. It was called Dirthavaren, the promise, when it was ours."  
"Right. There are a number of elven ruins there." Blackwall said.  
"That's why I want to go there. I'm no Keeper, but they aren't the only ones who should learn about the Elvhen." Valaena was passionate about her people. As were most Elvhen...  
"There are ruins in the Emprise, as well."  
"Cold, though."  
"Aye. But we can look at the stuff of your people in the Emprise while we're there."   
"Thank you, Gordon." Valaena said. Blackwall was one of the most accomodating humans she'd ever encountered. "I'm looking forward to helping my people rediscover our heritage, more than I look forward to helping the Wardens. Even as Warden-Commander, I am Elvhen first." She spoke. "We are the Dalish: Keepers of the lost lore, walkers of the lonely path. We are the last of the Elvhenan, and ever again shall we submit." She recited, her eyes closed. "I've seen the Elvhen at one of the heights of our civilisation. I watched the warriors who fought with magic and swords, though I don't know from what age that was. I know what we can be. But what we are, is held down. Hated. Slaves and servants. Have you ever seen an alienage? Have you seen what happens to the neglected elves of the city? We are all descended from slaves, now. But before that we were magic. We were glorious. What happened to my people?"  
The sheer passion she spoke with cut right through Blackwall. He thought he believed in the Wardens, but Valaena's belief and love for her people was stronger than anything Blackwall had ever held. "Ir abelas, Gordon. I know you don't want to hear an elf lament her home and people."   
"I'd like to hear more, actually. I've not had the opportunity to talk to many elves like this. Jahaerys is the only other Dalish elf I know." Valaena turned to look up at him, surprised.  
"Really?"  
"Aye. Tell me what you know."  
"Do you know about Shartan? The Elvhen he led alongside your Andraste? They were both slaves, together. They rose up, together. They led slaves, human and Elvhen alike. Andraste promised my People the Dales, and when she died, her sons kept her promise. The Long Walk came next. Then the Exalted March. That was because we didn't want the ones who subjugated us and killed us remorselessly to come near us again. The Emerald Knights protected us.  
But my people were murdered and burned by that Andrastian army." She had to stop for a moment. "In the words of Keeper Gisharel; They forgot Andraste called Shartan "brother." They forgot we were friends." A tear cut a shining path down Valaena's cheek as she spoke. All of the Dalish carried the centuries of hurt in their hearts, and Valaena felt it heavy on her chest. "They say the Elvhen of the Dales didn't help during the Second Blight. But I cannot believe that... Templars were sent into Elvhen territory. That was the beginning of that Exalted March. My people were murdered and pushed out of their homes. That's Orlais. Alienages came to be because of the Chantry. My ancestors who would not accept the shallow truce became the Dalish. Me. But we're still finding more of our history every year, every month. We have to piece together pieces of a broken and forgotten past." Valaena finished quietly, looking to her feet.  
"I'd never thought about it like that." Blackwall broke a solemn silence.  
"You were taught not to." Valaena shrugged against him. "Your Chantry is built on hate and lies."  
"I can't argue that. Cassandra and the Inquisitor recently found out the corruption within the order of the Seekers of Light."  
"Not surprising." Valaena gave a dry laugh as she wiped the tears from her face.  
Blackwall didn't reply. Instead he wrapped both arms tight around Valaena and held her.

The sun was off to the west, but it wasn't hanging low in the sky as yet. Valaena had pressed the tulip she'd picked earlier in the journal she carried with her, and she was checking it. Five flat rocks were piled on top of the book, and the tulip had been flattened. Once they leave again, she'd have to bind the book tightly. The rocks went back on top of her journal, and she took out her charcoal and sketching pad. Blackwall was by the fire, sitting, thinking, cleaning his finger nails. Valaena turned to sit facing him, and began to draw. She liked to have memories of the people she was close to. Her book was full of drawings of her clan, her friends during the Blight, and the people she'd met in between. More than once, Alistair appeared in her book, as did Leliana and Zevran. Her drawings of Alistair stopped long before her drawings of Leliana and Zevran who she sketched every time she saw them, and more than one page was torn out badly in anger. More than once, Leliana and Zevran appeared naked. Even a drawing of Alistair, shirtless, was in there. (Normally, no one saw the drawings that were not of them, but Zevran had peeked and commented on one sketch of Leliana, which Valaena was yet to tell her about...) "What are you doing?" Blackwall asked from where he sat, almost startling Valaena as she drew.   
"Nothing." She answered with a slight flush to her cheeks.  
""Aye, I see that." Blackwall replied before he stood and walked over to her. "You kill Darkspawn and do that? Maker." Blackwall laughed.  
"You like it?" Valaena asked.  
"Aye. I'd like it more if it weren't me."  
"I like it better because it is you." Valaena countered as she reached to put her things down by her pack. "Come closer." She told him. He didn't resist her, and knelt down. She pulled him in by his shirt, and kissed him hard. Her hands slid over his shoulders and into his hair, immediately messing it up where it was so nice and brushed back before. He leaned into her, and Valaena's heart skipped a beat. She used her legs to pull him even more close to her, and they kissed deeply. 

Valaena woke to the smell of eggs. She hadn't eaten eggs for some time, but she loved them. She loved the yolk to be soft, but not runny, and cooked only on one side. Blackwall heard her in her yawning and stretching, and he passed some roast bird to her with a good morning kiss on the side. Valaena couldn't help the smile, even as she ate the smile wouldn't leave her face. The sun was shining through the trees, and the morning light was invigorating. She knew Blackwall had been up for some time already, the eggs and roasted bird told her that, and he swaggered away from their camp with the used pan and salt in his hand. Valaena liked the way he swaggered like that. She hurriedly found her washrag and soap, and picked one of her knives up before she followed him. The knife was for just in case there were more slavers, or bandits around. Her ears pricked as she heard the running water, coupled with the hoof-falls of her hart. It had followed her when she ran. "Falon'ghilana!" She called out at it in surprise. "What are you doing here?"  
It snuffled at her.  
"I'm fine. There's water!" She pointed in the direction she thought it was. Falon'ghilana took over the path and searched the area first. Valaena followed. The stream was not large, but more than Valaena could leap across. Blackwall was rinsing the pan, with his feet in the water, too. Valaena hadn't noticed he was shoeless earlier. She liked this less put together, more relaxed look he wore sometimes. The hart leaned it's great antlered head down to drink, and Blackwall's horse Storm trotted up by it's side to join. Valaena began to undress and she could feel her companion's eyes on her. "I'll be back in a moment..." He told her slowly, with his eyes flicking between her face and body. The small grin he wore betrayed his intentions to her. Valaena waded into the middle of the stream and lowered herself into the water. It was cold and goosepimples sprung up all over her skin when she sat. The water was from the mountains, and the snow, and it was refreshing. The horse and hart wandered back toward the camp slowly, they covered the sound of Blackwall coming back through the trees. Valaena was surprised when she saw Blackwall on the bank without a shirt, only because she hadn't expected him back so quickly. "What, did you run there and back?"  
"Why would I run?" He asked with a brazen look in his eyes.  
"You like to see me naked." Valaena countered with a laugh. Blackwall finished undressing, stepped into the water near her, and lowered himself onto the smooth rocks beneath the water. "I do like to see you naked." He agreed as his hand found her leg.  
"You're a pleasure, as well. I was surprised when the Inquisitor told me that you were unattached." Valaena wore a very impetuous look, herself.  
"You and the Inquisitor gossiped often, then?" Blackwall asked, curious. Though that look hadn't left his face. It made Valaena feel good, his joking with her, and the ease with which they would talk this way. "You know we did. Did he not tell you, at Skyhold? Oh, then when we were walking on the Coast... I'm not the only gossip here, vhenan."  
Blackwall only gave a smirk, before he leapt at Valaena. His mouth caught her on the neck and her fingernails dug into his back in answer. She used her knee to push him to the side, and he splashed into the water. Valaena took the opportunity to lay down in the water and get swept a few metres downstream. She rolled onto her stomach in the water, with her arms holding her up, and watched Blackwall follow her. He slipped through her arms and stopped himself before he passed completely. Valaena let herself fall onto him as he sat up, and bit him on the side of the chest. "That wasn't nice." He told her.  
"I'm not nice." She replied, before kissing him. 

The sun fell in pools around them, and Blackwall carried Valaena to one of those pools on the grass. He may have broken the kiss Valaena began, but his mouth was on her again. He peppered her chest with kisses, and moved down between her breasts. His kisses followed the line of a tattoo, the stem of an upturned rose led him down to her ribs, then her stomach. Valaena ran her fingers high on his cheek, and he moved back up to her face. Valaena's eyes searched his, and she tried to hide a sadness that kept threatening to return. She knew he would ask about the tattoo on her front after, but she wanted to stay in this moment with him. She was about to whisper a word, but Blackwall moved into her with a gentle look. They kissed in the sunlight, and Valaena's hand ventured down between their bodies. She wanted him, and helped him find her. They made love in the light of the morning, they dried in the sun then became wet with sweat. Valaena whispered and moaned into Blackwall's ear, when they were laying in the grass and when she was up on his lap. They both wore the marks of their lovemaking, Valaena had bitten into Blackwalls shoulders and her fingers had bitten into his back. He had left marks and bites over her chest and shoulders, and green stains from the grass ran the length of her back.  
There they laid in the sun, entwined like lovers would be, until Valaena heard the hoofbeats of her hart. "Come. Wash." She whispered in Blackwall's ear. He watched her sway as she walked into the water, then followed her as the hart came into the clearing. Valaena retrieved her soap and washcloth from slightly upstream, and began to wash herself. Blackwall took the cloth to scrub her back, and he kissed her softly on the shoulder. She felt his beard tickle her more than she felt the kiss. "That tattoo on your chest..."  
"Another man, a lifetime ago." Valaena recited the answer she'd been practicing in the back of her mind.  
"I understand." Was all he said before he began to lather her hair with the soap. 

The road was kind to them until they came to the coast at the base of the Frostbacks. It had been a day a night, and another day since they last camped for sleep, and Valaena was falling asleep in the saddle as Falon'ghilana picked a way through the rocky, thin coast. The light was failing them, and soon the sun would be completely gone. "Valaena." A sharp voice woke her.   
"Creators, I need sleep." She sighed back. The hart agreed with a noise.   
"We can find a spot after we're through here." Blackwall answered.  
"How far?"  
"We're about halfway."  
"Around the mountains? Or to Emprise du Lion?"  
"Both."  
"Ugh."

The path started to widen after a while, and Valaena began to look for somewhere to stop and rest, though her sleepless brain was addled. They were on an overgrown and widely disused path, and the land around them was mostly bare. Trees and rocks studded the landscape, stark shadows against the puddles of white snow on the ground, but there was no shelter. "Let's just stop here." Valaena sighed as she slid from Falon'ghilana's back  
"Aye. It's as good as anything we're going to find here." Blackwall agreed. They slept in their armour, in between the hart and horse, with bedrolls between them and the freezing ground.

The sun woke them when it's rays shot through the sky. Valaena yawned, and stretched for a good minute. Going from riding to sleeping in minutes like she did, her legs, back, and butt were all aching. It would only get worse, the more they slept in the cold. At least their mounts still carried the furs Valaena and Blackwall left Skyhold with. Valaena pulled her coat around her after she was in the saddle. She nudged her hart closer to Blackwall and Storm. "Can you go for another day? Or should we walk beside you?" Valaena asked the mounts. The old warhorse seemed unbothered, but the hart nodded it's head. Valaena and Blackwall both laughed at Falon'ghilana, but did dismount. "Put your coat on. I don't want you dying from frostbite." Valaena told Blackwall.  
"Put some shoes on, then." He shot back. Valaena groaned, but gave in to his demand. The shoes were made for snow, with layers of fur and leather on a thick sole. They were made for an elf like her. She had no doubt they were made to Jahaerys' specifications. On they walked for half a day, and the riding ache in Valaena gave way to a walking ache. Her feet felt strange and heavy, and her nose was cold and red. Their breath came out in white puffs, like little clouds that were quickly chased away by the slow current in the air. She knew there was a reason she stayed far from the Frostbacks when she could. The pressing cold of the upper deep roads was better than the windy cold of the surface. The heat from the rivers of fire beneath the dirt and rock was suffocating, though. That's when she preferred to be up under the sky. 

 

Scouts met the Wardens on the road, and accompanied them to the village of Sahrnia where the Inquisition held a forward camp. It was cold, and miserable. Valaena had the feeling that something more was going on there, but let it be for the time being. The people there had little food, and what the scouts could catch was not enough for everyone in the village. Valaena found some locals and asked them if there was a village leader, and was sent to a mostly empty house. "Hello?" She asked as she knocked on the door.  
"Come, come." A woman's voice replied. "You are a Grey Warden?" She asked with surprise, eyeing the griffon adorning the armour on Valaena's chest.  
"Yes. Warden-Commander Mahariel."  
"Ah." The woman sounded surprised. "I am Mistress Poulin."  
"Pleased to meet you." Valaena answered shortly. There were more pressing matters than Orlesians and their anti-elf bullshit. "I want to know how your people are. They look hungry. Is there no one here who can use a bow?"  
"No. Not since the Templars came through." The Lady said sadly.  
"Then I need to borrow longbow and arrows from your people."  
"Two bows, and two quivers of arrows." Blackwall added from behind Valaena.  
The woman looked even more surprised at that than the fact that a rabbit is a Warden-Commander. "I will see what we can do."  
"Thank you." Valaena said as she left. The people of Sahrnia truly did look miserable. The village was half destroyed, and there were too few inhabitants. Valaena and Blackwall settled by a fire that looked to be a in the common area of the small town. People came and went, people stopped and talked. They seemed hopeful, with two Grey Wardens suddenly there and wanting to help. A child wandered over to the fire, alone. A little girl. She was shivering, and Valaena swooped down to wrap her arms around the child. She was warm inside her coat, and the child was shivering violently. Valaena spoke to her, and found out her name was Laurel. Blackwall spoke to some locals, while Valaena left the child near the fire with her coat. Blackwall led Valaena to an empty house, and they scoured it for blankets and clothes. Luck came, and a neglected wardrobe gifted them with blankets and coats. They returned to the great fire with their arms full, and Valaeana gave the girl Laurel a smaller, better fitted coat to wear, after she sat all the warm things on a table nearby. Mistress Poulin approached the fire, with arms and a fretful woman. "Laurel!" The woman cried as she ran toward the Wardens and the child. "Oh, my baby!"  
"I am alright now, mama. Valaena helped me." The child smiled. The woman looked on the verge of tears. "It's alright. You don't need to say a word. We're happy to help. Sit here, warm yourself by the fire." Valaena smiled kindly to the mother as she stood. She took a blanket to wrap around the woman, as well. 

The Wardens organised a hunting party. Half of the scouts in the area, and some of the villagers who'd volunteered. Snouflers, August rams, and wild dogs frequented an area to the north, and the Wardens set up there with the longbows. They were decent with them, though Blackwall commented more than once that it'd be easier with Varric and Sera shooting for them. "Just shut it and shoot." Valaena said more than once, in return. In the end, they had three snoufler, three rams, and two dogs. With the meat packed in snow, it would last the villagers some time if they rationed properly. If the scouts hunted regularly as well, it would last even longer. Mistress Poulin thanked them profusely, and showed them to one of the disused, but mostly intact houses to sleep for the night.

 

"What a day." Valaena sighed as she sat by the fire.  
"Aye. Do you ever stop helping?" Blackwall asked her.  
"It's what we do for our own. If one of our clans finds another in trouble, we do everything we can to help. Shemlen are less kind. Someone needs to do it." She replied with a shrug.  
"You and the Inquisitor both. You've both left your people to help those that probably don't deserve it." He told her as he lay down next to her, awe in his tone.  
"I know. We're brave and selfless." She said with an impish grin.  
"More selfless than most I've met." He replied more seriously.  
"Some are selfish for a reason. Others are selfish for no reason. Some of them can't be helped. Enough of that, though. Come and warm me." Valaena held her hand out to Blackwall, and he took it. They pulled each other closer, and Valaena ended up on top of Blackwall. Every chance she could, she mussed his hair. He was always so clean and put together, she couldn't resist it. She did it again as she leaned in to kiss him, and his hand slid under her shirt in reply. Valaena reached down to undo Blackwall's trousers, then dragged his shirt up. He sat up so she could lift it over his head, then he pulled her pants and undergarments off of her. One of his large hands held onto Valaena's hip as she settled onto his lap, the other held him up. Valaena's hands both rested on his shoulders, and she used him to help balance herself as she rode him. This time, he was the one gasping for her, and she drew it out. The sides of his neck were covered in bites and marks from her lips, and he was begging her in the end. "Valaena," he moaned, and she grinned, "stop torturing me."  
"Make me." She dared him with that wicked grin, and stopped. The wicked grin that she wore was gone in a moment, after he flipped her onto her back. Her legs were against his chest, and he held her forearms tightly. This was revenge, and Valaena loved it. He had her, and he fucked her relentlessly. She had to bite her lip to keep from screaming out in her ecstasy. With all of her teasing, she was surprised he'd lasted as long as he did when he withdrew from her. "Creators." she said through heavy breaths. Blackwall had leaned down onto her chest when she'd moved her legs to either side of him, and he laughed into her. "So, you enjoyed yourself? I didn't hurt you?"  
"I did, vhenan, and you didn't. I did ask for that, though."  
"You did." He looked up at her, and Valaena could see the movement of his chest as he tried to catch his breath. He looked as though he was going to say something, but refrained. They lay there by the fire a while, and Valaena kept meaning to collect some of the snow outside and heat it, but never did. They fell asleep, half dressed and tangled together.

Morning came and Valaena woke first. She took a moment to gain her bearings, in the dusky morning light, and looked over to Blackwall. He was laying on his back beside her, and his dark hair haloed his head. She planted a kiss on his chest, just under the dip where his collarbone met in the middle. "I have to get up. Get your arse in gear, Val." She mumbled to herself. She threw some small logs on the lightly smouldering coals in the fireplace, and helped them light before she threw her coat on. There were bowls left in the house when it was abandoned, and she took a large one outside to fill with snow. It all went into the kettle by the fireplace, and Valaena threw more small logs on before the kettle went over the flames. She was still in her coat when she crouched down and rocked Blackwall. "Gordon." She called softly. "Vhenan. It's morning. Wake up." By the time his blue eyes opened, steam was rising from the kettle and Valaena swung it away from the flames. "Creators, how is it that you're so awake some mornings, and then others you rise like the dead?" She complained with a smile as she stood. A moment of fumbling with her bag, and she found her washrag. That was dunked in the hot water and then flung at Blackwall. "Maker." He groaned at her.  
"Honestly." She took her rag back and dropped her coat so that she could clean herself. He still wasn't awake by the time she'd got dressed. She sighed and went for a walk.

An hour later, she returned to the house, and Blackwall was indeed awake. Valaena walked in to find him brushing his hair, which she noticed had grown a considerable amount since they started on this journey about month ago. "Morning." She announced as the door swung shut behind her. "I trust you slept well?"  
"Would've been better if you didn't try to wake me earlier."  
"Oh, ma vhenan. If I actually tried to wake you properly, you would have woken up."  
"Aye, I believe you." He replied with a considerable amount of sarcasm.  
"Next time, Gordon, next time." She warned as she walked over to him. "You're going to regret those words." He pulled her into him, and they kissed.  
"Are you ready to go? Valeska's Watch, I believe." Blackwall said.  
"I am. It's close. Ish. We should be done and back here in only hours, then we can ride through the wonderful snow and cold back to Skyhold."

Apart from the expected Darkspawn, their reconnaissance and retrieval mission went without a hitch. The Inquisition had pushed the Red Templars back to a great, growing, glowing outcrop of their Red Lyrium. Valaena had the time and peace to tarry by ancient bits of Elvhen architecture, and wonder at them. She ran her hands along worn down carvings and over statues and columns. The Darkspawn did little to dampen her spirit, for once. This is where the Dalish began, through unjust war and displacement. Now she was here with a shem who strove to understand her and the pain her people carried. A shem- a human whom she loved.

 

Their road back to Skyhold was shorter than their road to the Hinterlands, but was fraught with icy winds and frequent falls of frost and snow. They sang as they rode up the slopes, as much to each other as their reliable steeds. Valaena found out that Blackwall had a very nice voice, especially in comparison to her very average one. It was a good thing she'd begun to sing with Leliana all those years ago. It was deep and rumbling, like thunder before a soaking storm. The kind that helped crops grow and watered the land, not the kind that came and left only destruction in it's wake. They were grateful to finally find the keep, where the towers held back the sky, and the warmth they found there. The pools in the mountain were what kept the grounds of Skyhold warmer than the ground outside, and Valaena commended the architect of this place for that.

The Warden-Commander spoke to Horsemaster Dennet for a bit before going to find Leliana. She let him know the mount's name, and he seemed to approve. "They like to have friends," he told her, "instead of masters. That one came to us in a state, but he seems to have taken to Warden over there." He added, speaking of Storm and Blackwall. "Lost creatures all find comfort in each other." Valaena smiled before she walked away.

"Leli!" Valaena announced as she climbed the steps to the rookery, where her friend kept her office. "I'm here, Val." She replied loudly. Valaena didn't speak again until she'd piled all of the Grey Warden artefacts she and Blackwall had found upon Leliana's desk, grinning all the while. Leliana nodded with each thing set down there. "Maps, Warden-Commander badge... treaties. We can definitely use those."  
"Sarhnia is a mess, too." Valaena added.  
"We know." Leliana sighed. "Thank you for this. No doubt there will be more, but for now go and rest. You look like hell." Leliana smiled. Valaena swore one of the runners nearby almost fainted. "It's the taint." Valaena smiled back and flicked her hair before she left.

Their saddlebags had been respectfully placed just inside the barn, and Blackwall went to thank Dennet before he joined Valaena on the top level of the barn. Apparenty Leliana had redecorated while they were away. There was a low bed, that would have been plain but for the griffons carved into the headrest and blankets decorated with both Dalish and Warden insignia. "What-" Valaena heard Blackwall, and laughed.  
"Thank our spymaster." She said.  
"That woman knows everything."  
"That's what she's paid for. Let's sleep. I'm exhausted." She had stripped down to her undergarments, and pulled the plush covers up to her chin. Blackwall wasn't long in following her lead. They were both thankful for a real bed, and slept through the afternoon, until the next morning came.

The next weeks were largely uneventful, until the Inquisitor returned. Valaena had the chance to meet The Iron Bull and his Chargers, Cole, Solas, Josephine, and Varric. Varric she recognised from when she arrived and asked for directions. "Pleasure to formally meet you, Warden-Commander." He said with a handshake and smile in that deep voice of his.  
"Creators, please don't call me that. You must've thought I was incredibly rude, that day!" Valaena gasped in shock.  
"No, no. I heard the commotion. You're alright. You needed the tea." He'd replied, before they sat down and talked for the next few hours. He certainly had some stories, and she knew she'd heard the name Varric Tethras before. Once he began to talk about Hawke and the Free Marches, Valaena had to tell him to hold his thought before she sprinted off. Only minutes later, she returned with her special sketchpad. "It's a long shot, but you mentioned meeting a clan of elves there." She flipped back to very early in the book, and held up a drawing of Merrill. It was old, but her Vallaslin was hard to mistake. "Andraste's tits. That's Daisy. Merrill"  
"OHHH! You know her! You know her!" Valaena was more excited than she thought she'd be, and Varric grinned. "I see you do too."  
"She's from my clan. I was recruited before they moved on, but heard news that Clan Mahariel may have headed beyond the Waking Sea."  
"Yeah, as far as I know, she's still living in Kirkwall. She has a house in the alienage."  
"She- what?" Valaena asked, her expression immediately turning from surprised to suspicious.  
"She chose to stay there, don't worry. There's nothing unbecoming about her living there."  
"Good. Good." She exhaled happily.  
"Believe me, if she wanted help getting out of there, Hawke'd have her out in less time than it takes to shear a ram. Hey," Valaena sensed a question incoming, "you know how you killed the Archdemon?"  
"Yes, I was there..."  
"How would you feel about having that story written down? I know there'd be a few people who'd be interested in reading that."  
"By Hard In Hightown and Swords and Shields himself?"  
"Oh... Seeker is going to love you." Varric laughed.  
"What'd I say?"  
"Ask her about Swords and Shields." Varric told Valaena with a wink. Then on they talked, for another hour. Or more. Valaena lost track of time.

Valaenasat, drinking tea between a crenel. A steaming teapot and accessories sat on a tray on the ground beside her. The cosy over the pot was gaudy and bright, and Valaena loved it's ridiculousness. Footsteps approaching didn't bother her, just another guard passing she thought. Then they stopped. "You." A deep voice said. She looked up, and didn't recognise the face.  
"Me, what? Who are you?" The owner of the voice crouched down, and something began to stir in her memory. Blond, curly hair, intense amber eyes...  
"Maker, I never thought I'd see you again." He said with an almost smile.  
"You're... the... the Templar from the Circle." Valaena gasped.  
"Ser Rutherford."  
"Cullen? Cullen. Wow, you look great. It's been eleven years, so I don't know what else I expected, but..."  
"Yes." He gave a sheepish laugh and looked away for a moment. "I never got to thank you. Varric told me you were back after you talked. I would have spoken to you last time, but the work never ends."  
"That's true. How have you been since... then?" She asked gently.  
"I was in Kirkwall for a while-"  
"I heard about what happened." She interrupted. He didn't need to talk about it here.  
"I made mistakes after the Circle, mistakes that I'm trying to fix now. With this." Cullen gestured to the keep, the people. Valaena didn't know he'd said more to her about his past in the past two minutes than he had revealed to the Inquisitor in the entire time they were stationed at Haven. "Then you're doing more than a lot of people do after a mistake." She smiled softly. "Your life has been good since Kirkwall, then?"  
"Very. I found friends, and realised that mages really aren't as bad as Uldred." A soft and warm laugh left him.  
"Well, Jahaerys is proof of that."  
Cullen smiled. "Yes. I'll leave you to it, now. My door is always open if you want to talk, Warden-Commander."  
"Alright, Cullen." Valaena replied with a nod of her head. Cullen walked away again, and Valaena smiled. That she'd had such a lasting effect on someone's life was a breath of fresh air for her, and helped put some things into perspective. Although, that fresh air could have just been a cool gust that brushed up the wall. The voices of two men talking floated over the wind, and a moment later Blackwall was sitting by Valaena. "I didn't know you knew Cullen." He commented.  
"I kind of saved him in Ferelden."  
"Aye? You are a hero..." Was that admiration in his tone?  
"The Circle was taken over by rogue mages, and it was up to me to save them before the Right of Annulment was put into action by the Templars there. There were so many survivors inside, I couldn't just... leave." She shrugged as if it were nothing. She had to make it that way, so as not to overwhelm herself with the memory of it all.  
"Aye?"  
"So, we went in and... saved them. Killed demons, murderous blood mages, a few Tranquil... that was shit. I had to journey through the Fade a little, as well." She added as an offhand comment. "I did that twice, actually."  
"Chuckles might like those stories."  
"Chuckles?"  
"Solas. The bald elf."  
"Ah." Valaena was unimpressed by him. Too aloof and disrespectful of her Dalish origins. She changed subjects. "So, about Cole..."  
"He's an odd kid, but a good one." Blackwall said, fond but distant.  
"I got that he's odd. He's ...different."  
"The Inquisitor'd tell you better than I could."  
"I'll make sure to ask. Did I tell you that Varric knows one of my clanmates?" Her voice turned from unsure to excited in an instant.  
"No, I just thought you were swapping stories. That dwarf could talk a giant's ear off if given half a chance."  
Valaena laughed, "We did, but I asked him about Merrill. Clan Mahariel travelled across the Waking Sea before the Blight could take them. I was recruited before they left. I didn't know where they went for a long time. I'm going to have to write to her, maybe even visit, soon. I haven't seen them in so long." Valaena's voice trembled with tears, though they were happy. She was always quick to feel, no matter how much she denied it. Ever the empath.

 

Upon his return, the Inquisitor's mood was dark. There had been news about Adamant Fortress, and more bad news was given to him upon his return. Though his travels through the Exalted Plains- Dirthavaren, and the Emerald Graves went well, news of Corypheus and his reach was always souring. Valaena waited outside of the war-room with Garrett Hawke and a Warden named Stroud. Once the Inquisitor had left, they walked in to be debriefed about Adamant before they accompanied the Inquisitor there. Most of the Inquisitor's inner circle would be going. Josephine would be staying, with Madame de Fer to assist her, and Seeker Pentaghast chose to stay. Her reasoning was sound. Skyhold needed a martial force to remain, but Cullen was the better commander. He should go, while she stayed with the lesser force. The mood was tense in the days leading up to the march on Adamant. The Inquisitor was barely seen, nor was the Commander or Leliana. Blackwall disappeared on Valaena a few times as well, and she had suspicions... But those were for a later date.


	6. Tulips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orlais and soirees are always bad for Valaena.

The march was long and slow, and the way would have been easier with a lesser number. Valaena said as much. Jahaerys and Cullen insisted, though, and she gave in. Much of her time riding that wasn't spent with Blackwall, she spent getting to know the Inquisitor further. The Inquisitor, and his love. It was better to go into battle with spirits high rather than angry or with otherwise negative emotions. They laughed, and when Valaena confronted Dorian about his people, there was no aggression. Only a long, in depth talk about mistakes, pride, and wanting to fix things. They both came out of that talk with a newfound respect for the other, and a new friend.  
They didn't realise that the Inquisitor had dropped back to speak with Blackwall.

Adamant loomed ahead, and the air was solemn with apprehension. Many people were torn about attacking the Warden Fortress, but those that Valaena saw, she assured. Adamant was close, and the column of warriors was stopped and ushered to come as close to the Inquisitor they could. The Inquisitor gave a short speech, and called on Valaena to speak to the entire army. She did, with passion and fire that she hadn't felt for the Wardens in years. "I know you are all apprehensive, worried, even upset by this march. "They are Grey Wardens!" You say. To that I tell you, these people are not true Grey Wardens anymore. They have corrupted my order, and purposely summon demons, through the blood of others. They will speak on "the greater good," but I will ignore them. To me, the greater good is not summoning demons, it is fighting a war without corrupting yourself and your men. It is doing everything that you can without resorting to killing people to raise corrupt spirits! It is protecting the people, not coercing them into a Joining with pretty words, only to slit their throats with intent! Those people," She yelled, pointing behind herself to Adamant, "are liars! They are users! They are corrupted!" She paused, "There will be soldiers in there like me, people who want to stop the Blight as a Grey Warden, spare them. Spare their lives and tell them to leave Adamant. Adamant Fortress has become a seat of evil. Tell them to meet with me outside of Adamant after the battle, I will weigh and measure them. Tell those who would sneer at your faces that you do not understand: Warden-Commander Mahariel stands beside Inquisitor Lavellan, and she says smite you." She didn't expect the cheers that came, she didn't expect the applause. The Inquisitor took her hand, and they raised their arms together. The people were roused, and that's what they needed. "Commander! Take your men!" Valaena called, with roused blood, and battle fury in her heart. Cullen the Inquisition army left for the forward attack, and the battle was about to begin.

The Inquisitor led his party in after Comander Cullen and the troops had claimed on wall of the fortress. The Inquisitor ran recklessly into the battle, with Dorian not far behind him. The Iron Bull and Blackwall followed with Solas just behind, they were to keep the mages safe from close attacks, as were Cole and Valaena - which would have been much easier if two thirds of their mages hadn't sprinted in ahead of them. Varric and Sera followed behind, shooting their bolts and arrows with all the precision the party could want for. They swept through the outer walls of the fortress with ease, until they came upon an ogre. Hawke and the Warden Stroud were keeping it from leaving the area, with Inquisition soldiers. The Inquisitor called for the soldiers to move back, and The Iron Bull charged at it. Valaena threw a smoke bomb at it's feet, and she and Cole dove into it. She could not see the others inside the gaseous cloud, and climbed up onto the ogre's back. It was distracted by the spells and weapons hitting it, it didn't notice Valaena on it's back. She signalled to Sera, and pointed to her eye, then down to the ogre. The other elf understood, lined up and took her shot in a second. "Andruil's arrows... If that's not her reborn..." Valaena half laughed as she grabbed the arrow and wiggled it around the eye socket. The beast was incensed, and thrashed about as Valaena turned it's eye and all of the tendons around it to mush. Of course it was, there was something sitting on it and wiggling a stick around it's eyehole. Valaena shoved it further and met with resistance. She shoved again with a yell, and this time the arrow pierced it's brain. Valaena had to slide her daggers away and just hold on for a minute, while it threw itself around. It knew it was about to die, and wanted to take as many with it as it could. That was a pleasure it didn't have. Valaena had to leap away when it began to fall back, and landed hard on the stone flags that made up the floor. There were a hundred arrows and bolts peppering the ogre's body and face, and Valaena helped pull them for their owners before they moved on.  
Another ogre barred their way, and the fight was short but tiring again. Jahaerys called all of his people to him again, and sectioned them off. "Dorian, Blackwall, Varric, you're coming with me. Warden-Commander, take Sera, Bull, Solas, and Cole. Find the good, kill the bad. Stay safe." He told them. The circle was close, and there were quick hugs and promises of destruction on both sides. Valaena was pulled in close by Blackwall, to loud whoops by Sera and Bull. They kissed, and Valaena whispered, "Stay safe. Please." Blackwall only kissed her again, harder, before running to catch up with the Inquisitor. "No doubt he's leading them on a more dangerous path, right?" Valaena said with a nervous laugh. She'd feel better if she were with the Inquisitor.   
"No doubt. He's always throwing himself in first. Makes him a good leader, that. Most just chuck the little people at it and hope they solve it." Sera piped up.  
"Yeah, he's a true leader. Charges in himself, makes the decisions. Good man." Added The Iron Bull.  
"Alright, let's go. The Iron Bull and I are going first." Valaena told them as she steeled herself.

They walked right into a fight, Wardens against Wardens, and Valaena heard The Iron Bull growl about demons. She moved to his right with Cole, and they all charged at the demons together with arrows and spells flying between them. The demons were harder to take down than Valaena remembered demons being, and they seemed to grow with each strike. Valaena felt the air around her tingle as Solas cast a spell, and she turned her head to him. "Nullification magic." He told to her, and she nodded. The demons had shrunk down, and seemed to be on the edge of life. Cole sailed through the field with his long knives slicing, and the demons shrieked as they sunk into the ground. Valaena rounded on those Wardens who had been on the side of the demons. "You disgust me." She told them, hollow voiced.  
"We were only following orders!" One of them sobbed as they cowered.  
"When your orders are kill good people and summon demons, you don't follow them. When your orders are "attack your fellow Grey Wardens," you do not follow them!" Her voice had grown loud, commanding, like the Warden-Commander she was.  
"We were..." They collapsed, inconsolable.  
"If you are truly repentant of these acts, you will be glad to wait outside of Adamant, until the Inquisitor and I return there, and if you run, it will be my personal mission to find you. As for you," Valaena turned to those Wardens who had been fighting against the demons, "I thank you for staying true. I may not be your Warden-Commander, but I would be honoured to be. Go with them, you will find our encampment. Sit, eat, wait for us. We all ride for Skyhold again soon."

The Warden soldiers all walked where Valaena told them to, and she heard The Iron Bull. "Nice." he said slowly, with a laugh. "I can see why Broody Beard likes you." They trudged onward.  
"Come off it, Bull. He likes 'er coz she's hot."  
Valaena couldn't help but laugh, then Cole touched her arm. "She is warm. But what does her temperature have to do with how much he likes her?"  
"That is not what Sera meant, Cole. In the way Sera used the word, "hot" means attractive." Solas spoke in his measured tone.  
"Oh. He doesn't feel so lost when he's with you. So many words were not said, and there are so many he means to say. Please don't be angry..."  
"Cole." Solas said gently to the boy, and he stopped. Valaena tilted her head to the side, and her ears dropped. Maybe she should ask Cole some questions, some time.

They were engaged again, more than once, and watched an Archdemon circle the fortress as they ran through. Every time she saw it, Valaena's stomach dropped to the floor, and she felt as if she'd vomit. "It'd be attacking the Inquisitor." The Iron Bull said, to no one in particular.  
"It's coryphetit's pet." Sera told Valaena, when Valaena watched the beast soar through th sky on it's tattered wings. Was it meant to make her feel better? Sera couldn't know that it didn't, Valaena told herself, don't be so mean.  
They kept fighting through the fortress. In the middle of a bloody fight, they heard the demon roar before a deafening silence fell. In that silence, Wardens all arounddropped their weapons, and gave in to the Inquisition. The clang of metal hitting stone echoed loud about the fortress.   
Her group followed her as she ran through to where the noise, the roar, had originated from. The area was in ruins, and there was nothing but the Archdemon at the bottom of the wall. Dead. "Everyone, get away from here. Get away." She pushed them all back, urgency and fear made her panic, and it was deep in her voice. No one objected. She didn't know that Warden-Commander Clarel had taken in the spirit, and fretted that Blackwall may have, but she wanted no one dying from that infection on her watch.

The courtyard was silent when they returned, and the atmosphere was tense. The Commander was there. Valaena and he spoke quietly, away from everyone else. "There has been no sighting of the Inquisitor? Hawke, Stroud?" She asked eyes wide with fear, apprehension, worry, tension.  
"No, not as yet. They couldn't be too far away."  
"I'm worried. The Archdemon is dead."  
Cullen sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am too."  
"How long do we wait?"  
"The Inquisitor won't let us wait for long. He may be reckless in a fight, but he knows his responsibility. He won't let us wait." Cullen told her twice, as he was reassuring himself as much as he was reassuring Valaena.  
"If he's alive." Valaena's mind turned to Blackwall, and she returned to sit with her party. Valaena had to empty her mind, and try to turn her thoughts to memories instead of what could be. She was surprised when Sera's hand slipped into hers, but she held it. Sera was only young, she needed the comfort as well. "They will turn up, and be fine." Valaena said as much to Sera as to herself.  
"'F I know Jahaerys, he'll walk in'n ask what's got us all so worried." Sera tried a laugh, but it didn't come out right. Valaena felt the same. She could feel even the muscles in her feet and back tense. What if she lost Gordon? What if THEDAS lost the Inquisitor? Her leg began to bounce as they all waited, and she got lost looking at the bright green light in front of her.

The rift in the courtyard spluttered, spat, and pulsed. The Inquisitor was spat out, along with Blackwall, Dorian, Varric, and Hawke. Stroud wasn't there. There was no time for celebration yet, a demon of pride followed them from the tear and everyone leapt to their feet. None would spare themselves to save Thedas. The Inquisitor used the mark on his hand to open another, smaller rift, and the demon's life was leeched from it as they all attacked with sword, spell, and arrow. The fight was over quickly, and nothing around Valaena mattered when it was done. She threw her weapons down and ran to Blackwall. He tossed sword and shield, and relieved himself of his helm before they embraced. "What happened?" Valaena asked. Nothing else mattered in these precious seconds.  
"He opened a rift. We went in." Valaena didn't know what to say to that, she just buried her face into Blackwall's neck. He didn't speak, and Valaena didn't care about the plates on his arms digging into her through her leather and mail.  
"She was so worried. Her heart was sad. No more loss, Creators please." Cole's voice was quiet, but felt so loud next to them. "They love each other, and he's not worthy of her greatness. Her mind lingers, longing, no more languishing. There's light, now. She feels whole when he's there. Inside." Valaena felt like her whole head had turned red, and wanted to melt away. She had not been on the receiving end of Cole's ...thing, properly yet. Blackwall loosened his hold on her, and she found her knives before leading a slow procession of people away. She could hear The Iron Bull laughing as she walked. The redness of her blush didn't go away for some time.

Jahaerys was laughing like he hadn't just been through a harrowing ordeal and left a friend inside the Fade to fight a monster, and probably die. "I thought you might have died of embarassment." He told Valaena. "Blackwall certainly didn't. Bull complimented him, and Sera high-fived him." Valaena glared. "There may have been some redness in his face." Jahaerys admitted. "We're still trying to help Cole understand that he shouldn't say those kinds of things around people. He's sweet, and just wants to help." Jahaerys' grin still hadn't gone.  
"What is he?" She asked sharply.  
"A spirit of compassion, but he's not really a spirit anymore. It's difficult to explain. It's a long process to help him understand our world and how it is."  
"I want to die." She told Jahaerys after a moment, as she hung her head in her hands. Even so, she did wear a small smile.  
"I daresay Blackwall would be pretty put out if you did. After that romantic scene? You couldn't do that to him." Jahaerys laughed. "Come on. We've all been embarassed by Cole at least once already. You should hear what he's said to Cassandra when they're around Bull. It embarrasses her more than him."

The journey back to Skyhold didn't seem as long as the journey to Adamant was. The high from their small triumph carried them all the way back there, and the Wardens that came as willing prisoners did nothing to dampen the high spirits. The night after they returned, Varric suggested a game of Wicked Grace. They were all invited. Advisors and inner circle. Valaena spent most of the night on Blackwall's lap. They all bonded through gain and loss, and shared stories of their past. Funny ones, though. Nothing depressing. Varric and Valaena found out they had another friend in common, Isabela the pirate. "You know, I'm surprised we haven't seen Sera." She commented to Blackwall. "Aye, she'd usually take advantage of a situation like this."  
"Keep an eye out when we go to bed. Oh, I think you've won this hand." He did, and Cullen had begun to bet his clothes away. They ended the night drunk, with laughter, and Cullen running away naked.  
Valaena and Blackwall stumbled into bed together, and she passed out before she could undo her casual leathers.

Valaena's awkwardness had faded, and days at Skyhold passed without consequence. She visited with Leliana more than once, and took her sketchbook on one of those occasions. "Leli, You know those drawing I did whenever I saw you?" She asked with some hesitation.  
"Yeees?" Leliana looked suspicious.  
"Zev saw one of you." Valaena admitted sheepishly.  
"I thought you said no one would see those ones." Leliana hid a teasing grin.  
"He's sneaky. You know that. I didn't SHOW him."  
"I do, indeed." Leliana gave a small laugh.  
"Also, he complimented you. Holds you in the highest regard. He had his suspicions, if I recall his words correctly, but didn't know how accurate his suspicions were until he saw the drawing."  
"So, you brought your book up with you to... show me which one he liked?"  
"And show the one he had me draw of himself, to you." Valaena giggled as she flipped the pages. "This one." Zevran had obviously modeled especially for this one, and he did look truly magnificent - as always. He was vain for a reason. "Wow. Why didn't you choose him over Alistair?" Leliana asked with a small laugh.  
"I was young and stupid." Valaena laughed as well.  
"Definitely." Leliana coaxed the book from Valaena's hands, and began to flick through. She started at the beginning, and only lingered over the sketches of appropriately clothed people. "Oh, Sten." She said in surprise, when she saw his distinctive scowl. "I didn't know he sat for you."  
"He did. And was happy to, to my surprise. It made more sense once I realised what he liked of the gifts I gave him." Valaena answered.  
"Ah. Yes. The goose girl, kittens, tiny cakes." Leliana smiled. It was a warm smile. "Oh, Maker. I look so young in this one."  
"Forgive me, I was still learning. I still am."  
"That's not what I meant-" She laughed and flicked the pages, landing on Valaena's latest. "You really do love him?" She asked, with the sketch of Blackwall sitting on the table in between them.  
"I think so. There's... something that I can't place, though. It's not his brooding darkness. There's something about him that I... I don't know how to explain it. You aren't a Warden, there's no way you could understand the things we feel after the Joining." Valaena sighed. "I swear, if the things Cole has said turn out to be something sinister, I'll kill him myself." Valaena set her jaw, and her eyes got a faraway look.  
"You won't get the chance. If he dares to hurt you in any way, I will have slit his throat before you've thought up what to yell at him." Leliana told Valaena. Valaena smiled, Leli had threatened to castrate Alistair for her as well. It was her way of showing her love for her friends! "Thank you, Leli. But I think I'd need the cathartic feeling of ...that." She laughed.

It began to rain when Valaena was practicing against the dummies, and she stayed until Seeker Pentaghast left. Her eye followed the woman surreptitiously. Cassandra had great form while she was practicing, and her walk was more elegant than Valaena had expected. Most of the women Valaena had seen like her walked in a very masculine way. Cassandra was a strong and muscular woman, and she carried it beautifully. Valaena wished there were more women like her. After she finished being distracted, she followed Cassandra into the tavern, and ordered a hot meal of potatoes and meat. She wondered how she'd start the conversation Varric suggested... Then she saw the Seeker sit in one of the more quiet corners, and pull the book out. Valaena picked her plate up, and walked over apprehensively. "'Scuse me?" She asked. Cassandra looked up, the tone of her eyes very disapproving. "Swords & Shields." Val pointed. "I love those books."   
Cassandra's sculpted brows shot up. "You know Swords & Shields?"  
"Yeah, and I've never seen anyone else reading it." She shrugged.  
"Nor have I. Did Varric tell you..." Her eyes narrowed as she measured Valaena.  
"He did. After he asked to put my story on paper. I said, "The writer of Hard in Hightown and Swords & Shields wants to write MY story!?" He was surprised to meet another fan of it in Skyhold. Told me I should talk to you."  
"I would yell at him if I weren't so pleased. Did you know he wrote another?" The Seeker gave a small, but glowing smile.  
Valaena inhaled a large gasp. "He did? I only finished the last one not long before my journey here."  
"The Inquisitor had a hand in it's publication." Cassandra replied as she held up the volume that she was reading. They began to talk about the books, and reminisce over the plot. Valaena needed reminding, anyway, because Cassandra offered her own book to borrow once she was done.

Finally, once the Inquisitor was free to talk, Valaena caught up with him. She spoke to him about going to Dirthavaren, and he assented. There was a Dalish clan seeking help, and Valaena was to help them on behalf of the Inquisition, and as a fellow descendent of the Dales. She had to convince him to let Blackwall go, though he said that he wanted to take the Warden with him first, then send him back to her. After that? A soiree in Orlais, with himself, Dorian, Leliana, Josephine, Vivienne, and Varric. "Go, tell him our plans." The Inquisitor said with a badly hidden smile. Something was going on...

When she was on her way back to find Blackwall, she saw him waiting for her in the lower yard, sat on the side of the well. "Valaena." He called to her, and she felt the love in his voice. There were tulips scattered over the yard, and she didn't see the Inquisitor, Leliana, Cassandra, and Dagna watching them from above. "Have you been talking to Leli?" Valaena asked as she walked through the multicoloured carpet of scattered flowers. "So you've noticed my absence?" He asked with a small laugh.   
"How could I not?" She was in front of him now, and her heart was racing. She could feel every beat in her ears and throat, and every breath seemed loud as an avalanche, but she showed it not. "I thought you'd like this. Leliana agreed."  
"I do. Very much."  
"What Cole said at Adamant... I can't deny the truth in his words."  
"Nor can I."  
"These are for you." From behind his back, Blackwall presented Valaena with tulips in a delicate box surrounded by silk. They were delicate, intricate, and made of wood and glass. The stems and leaves were carved from oak, and varnished to a shine. The petals were glass. One tulip was yellow, one blue, and one was left clear. They were like diamonds the way they sparkled in the sunlight. Valaena took them with an overwhelmed smile on her lips, and looked to Blackwall with love in her purple-blue eyes. "They're beautiful."  
"Like you. They won't wither away, or die."  
"Symbolic?" She asked with a soft laugh. He tilted her head up to him, and kissed her in reply. Her arm snaked around his neck, and she kissed him back happily. Their kiss broke when the cheers from above were head, and their foreheads rested against each other as they laughed. "Did you talk to everyone?" Valaena asked after she glanced up.  
"Only, the Inquisitor, Leliana, Cassandra, and Dagna the Arcanist."  
"So, only half of everyone? After our conversation about Swords & Shields, I should've guessed the Seeker was involved."   
"Aye?" He laughed.  
"I came down here to tell you something... now I've forgotten. All of this..."  
"I love you, Valaena." He interrupted. Valaena pressed up to kiss him once again, hard but sweet, restrained but giving, lusting but so full of love. The Inquisitor shouted down to them, "You're going to Dirthavaren in a week! Have fun!"

 

Valaena sat, drawing on some loose leaves of paper by a fire, with Cassandra. The Seeker looked to be reading, but she was watching Valaena sketch. "Is that the Knight-Captain?" Cassandra's distinctive voice sounded from behind the book.  
"She's not too... manly? Is she?" Valaena asked, about her drawing. The woman was muscular, with sword and long hair tied back behind her head. A familiar dramatic hero pose shaped her form, but Valaena worried that her shoulders were too broad, or feet too large. Though, her lover was also stood below and behind her with his hand up on her waist.  
"No, she looks wonderful." Cassandra "Strong, proud, defiant. I like it. May I?" She asked after she closed her book.  
"Of course. Another fan's input would be most useful." Valaena pushed the drawing towards Cassandra with a smile, and the Seeker took it. "It is wonderful. I like this." She pointed to the hand on the Knight-Captain's waist. "She will not bend to false accusations." The Seeker gave a laugh.  
"Keep it if you like." Valaena smiled. It was good to see something she's done bring so much joy to another.  
"Are you sure?"  
"As sure as Andruil's arrow flies."  
"Oh, thank you. Thank you!" Cassandra smiled - actually smiled! They sat back down, and kept on as they were, with Cassandra looking back and forth between the drawing and the book every so often.  
The Warden-Commander was re-strapping her knives when a shadow fell across her lap. "So, Commander, I heard you drew my Knight-Captain for Cassandra." It was Varric.  
"Commander-?I was sitting by Cassandra, and drew her. Seeker saw my drawing and liked it. I would have only tossed it somewhere."  
"Nicknames." Varric grinned. "Seeker loves it. You know, she even showed me. I might have to commission you to do the art on my next book." Valaena laughed, until she realised that Varric was serious. "I'm not- really, honestly? I don't think I'd-"  
"I saw your sketch. Talk to me when you and Hero come back from the Exalted Plains."

 

"Aren't there legends of curses upon the land here?" Valaena heard Blackwall ask as they walked.  
"The only curses here are curses on the Elvhen. My people couldn't even live in peace here. Drakon had to destroy us."  
"I didn't mean-"  
"I know. Sorry." She doesn't mean to get political, it just happens. Orlesian soldiers crawled over the ramparts Valaena and Blackwall walked past like flies, and Valaena turned toward a gap in the great rock walls on their left. "The halla!" Valaena exclaimed once they'd passed through the possibly natural walls. "Look at them all! Ghilan'nain has blessed this place, oh Creators!" Blackwall watched Valaena's excitement, and realised how much he truly did love her. She could be terrifying, and adorable. She was fierce, and caring. Smart, and carefree. And she was running toward the halla. They stopped running from her when she stilled, and let her approach. That smile... it made her glow, how she smiled like that. The red-purple colour her lips were painted with stood out from her white hair and teeth, and made her smile that much more expressive.

The Dirth was an experience for Valaena. The pair even dared the hot springs, where the Inquisitor had already slain one dragon and two more were rumoured to have nested. The skeleton was half submerged in the spring. Even without any of it's skin and muscle, the dragon was still an imposing sight. Valaena couldn't help but to pry one of the long teeth from it's skull. And take a claw. Blackwall only laughed at her.

 

They arrived in Orlais days before the soiree, as planned. They went over water, which made Valaena sick. Because of that, however, they had time to get fitted for formal clothes, instead of buying off the rack. Valaena opted for a long gown, all in a deep forest green threaded through with gold. It shimmered in the light as the fabric moved. But, Valaena being Valaena, had ornamental armour made as well. Her dominant arm and chest would be armoured in silverite, over the gold panel at the front of her dress. Her mask was a griffon in silver. Blackwall matched in deep green trimmed in gold, and his mask was plain silver. It covered his upper face, and he'd trimmed his beard back. He looked handsome even in the mask, and the pins in his clothes. He thought the same of her.

It was their last fitting before the evening attire was completed, and they were undressed again behind screens before being escorted to the small back room where they had undressed originally. It was dark and warm, the curtain over the window stopped much of the breeze that would have entered. Valaena turned, and Blackwall was there. "You should be getting dressed, Gordon." She smiled, and pressed her hands against his flat stomach, pushing him back while she moved forward.  
"So should you." He almost looked a different man with his hair out, long, and his beard cropped short. But those eyes, Valaena could never mistake them. She felt his hand comb through her hair as she leaned up to kiss him. His hand moved down her back as they kissed, and pulled her in close. She moved her hands around his neck, and Blackwall picked her up. Valaena felt him step forward from the wall she'd cornered him against, then she fell backward. The table she landed on was by the covered window, and Blackwall broke their kiss. Apparently he couldn't undo the laces on her hips and free her from her underclothes while he was kissing her. She didn't blame him, though. She was distracted enough when she was with him, as well. She was surprised, though, when he didn't come back up to kiss her. Instead, he stayed between her legs, and his minty mouth was exceptional in the way it treated her. When his fingers joined in pleasuring her, Valaena almost pulled the curtain from the window. Her legs tensed around Blackwall, and he must have felt it. His spare hand came to rest on her stomach and held here there. Her fingers clutched at the curtain and table, and no noise could escape her throat. Her legs began to release, and Blackwall moved. He peppered kisses up her thigh, her stomach, her chest, her neck. "Come on." She gasped, a request he could only give in to. He entered her with ease, and her legs wrapped around his waist. This time, Valaena really did pull the curtain from the window. It fell with a thud, but Valaena didn't care. Nor did Blackwall. They were with each other, in love, in passion, in ecstasy together. A few prying eyes were nothing but an aphrodisiac. They came almost together, with Blackwall only moving back just in time.  
He sagged into Valaena as she felt all of her muscles release whatever it was they were holding onto, and his hair covered her chest. She finally let go of the curtain, and she began to play with his hair. "Creators, ar lath ma." Maybe it was the afterglow of their sex, but she did mean it. She felt Blackwall smile against her skin. "Does that mean what I think?" He asked.  
"Probably." she smiled.

 

Valaena felt half suffocated in her gown, but the mirror complimented her. The greens and golds were complimentary to each other, and she was surprised to see the Dalish insignias embroidered into the waistline. "They work fast, these Orlesians." She'd muttered to herself. Her silvery-white hair had been braided loosely down her back, and flowers of gold and veridium sat in her locks along with real flowers and thin, ornamental chains. Her mask went with none of her clothes but the armour, but it marked her as what she was. Warden-Commander of Ferelden.

The stairs of the home the Inquisitor's group were guests at was long and curved. The marble echoed, and her footsteps in the heeled boots were loud. But she sawvBlackwall's face when he saw her. She held her mask to cover the blush in her cheeks and the stupid grin she wore. She met her love at the bottom of the steps, and they moved to the side with the Inquisitor and Dorian. Leliana and Josephine came down the grand staricase next. They were born for fancy soirees, and Josephine glittered in cloth-of-gold and black. Leliana was elegant in red velvet and proper Orlesian mask. The things she'd be able to hide in the sleeves she wore... A plate of ornamental silverite armour adorned the right hand side of her chest, as well. Varric appeared out of nowhere after that, and Madame de Fer swept down the stairs last of all. She wore a hennin that looked spun in spider-webs. Her dress was reminiscent of the clothes she wore at Skyhold, but so much more.  
They were picked up in a large carriage, and Leliana tinkled as she moved. Valaena gave her a knowing look with a raised brow, but Leliana made herself look as innocent as possible. Which was surprisingly so.  
Valaena didn't pay attention during all of the introductions, there were so many names. She shook hands and accepted compliments on her dress when need be, and returned them in kind. She didn't realise how stifling the masks were. Finally she could go and eat, and she walked with her arm through Blackwall's. His mask was relatively plain compared to the majority of others at the soiree, and he stuck by Valaena's side as much as he could. Which she was thankful for. Frilly cakes and sweet jammy biscuits greeted her at the table. She ate them right there at the table, where she heard comments about her rabbit ears. Blackwall heard them to, and his hands wrapped around her arms. "Are they like this all the time?" She whispered under her breath to him.  
"Aye. Always. Elves are beneath them, they think." He uttered back as he led her to the shining marble dance floor. Valaena knew how to dance, but she didn't know Blackwall did. "You're a surprise at every turn, Gordon." She laughed up at him.  
"You didn't think I know how to dance? I'm offended, my Lady." He grinned back at her. They stepped and rounded the floor gracefully, not once bumping into another couple.  
The song finished, and many dancers changed partners. Valaena and Blackwall were swept apart from each other, and Valaena was in the arms of another man. She immediately knew him by his smell, his Fereldan dress, and his smile, and her heart thudded in a bad way. "Alistair." She said curtly without meeting his eyes through his mask.  
"What, not even a smile? Maker, you look beautiful." He asked.  
"If I'd known you were going to be here- Let go of me." She was cold to him, all of a sudden stifled by the dancefloor. Blackwall was watching, and could tell by her body language that something was wrong.  
"Ow. I just wanted to say hello." Alistair told her.  
"I didn't. Why do think I disappeared from your life?" She pulled herself from his arms, and walked off the floor with poise. Cool night air met her as she pulled her mask off. The balcony was rather empty, and she was grateful. The air cooled her head, but she sighed when she heard feet behind her. "Valaena..." Not who she wanted.  
"Alistair, please go away." She asked, as she felt her stomach turn sour.  
"I want to talk to you, please." He was sincere, and reached for her arm.  
"You don't get to touch me!" Valaena wrenched her arm from him. Every time she looked at him, all she saw was him in his wedding clothes with Anora, surrounded by falling flowerpetals and white feathers. Happy without her. It was too much. He looked pained, but no more pained than she felt. "I'm sorry, whatever it was- I apologise."  
"You know what it was." She snarled.  
"I don't love her. I never have. It's always, only been you." He reached for her hand again, but never made contact. He'd been wrenched backward by his collar. "She said don't touch her." The voice was half a growl, and suddenly Blackwall stood by her side, with his hand on her waist. Valaena hadn't been able to compose her face, and stood there looking as though she was about to cry. "And who are you?" Alistair asked.  
"No one. Don't touch her." Blackwall growled.  
"Val?" Alistair asked her, hoping for an explanation.  
"Someone who won't drop me if he gets handed a throne, just like I thought you wouldn't." Her face may have been a mask of sadness, but her voice was like a whip caked in venom. Alistair looked taken aback, and just looked at Valaena for a moment. "I'm- I'm so sorry." He said before he turned away. Valaena stood in silence for a bit, with Blackwall by her side. "An Orlesian party might not have been the best place to play this out." She said with a forced laugh, after pushing all of her emotions down. "I should probably go, right?" Leliana ran out onto the balcony.  
"Valaena! Oh, I'm so sorry. I just saw Alistair. He was a mess. Are you okay?" She wrapped her arms around Valaena.  
"I'm fine."  
"Just like you were fine after Zevran left?"  
"Just like that." Which meant she was not fine at all. The soiree was stifling her, even from out on the balcony now. Valaena had to leave. Leliana let her go, and they looked at each other. Silent words passed, and Leli gave Valaena a kiss on the cheek before the elf began to walk out. Her heart was racing, and noises were loud. Everyone, it seemed, was getting in her way on purpose. Dark spaces seemed to hide monsters, and Valaena was gasping for air. Leliana was talking to Alistair - they were friends too, she could begrudge neither the other's company. Valaena had to look at the floor where she walked, watch her feet appear and disappear beneath the hem of her dress, to keep from looking up and around at the lingering Corrupted.

Blackwall had lagged behind, and was talking to Josephine when he noticed something wrong with Valaena, yet again. That wasn't just her walking out of a tense situation with emotion, that was someone who was scared. "I have to go." He told Josie as he walked fast towards Valaena. She was already outside by the time he caught up to her, and sat on a bench with her head in her hands. The silverite griffon mask beside her gleamed in the muddled moon and firelight. He walked around the long way, and pulled an apple from the tree, a flower from the ground. Valaena didn't look up when he knelt down in front of her, and removed his mask. He took her left hand anyway, and placed the apple gently. Her fingers moved around it, and she rolled it in her hand before taking a bite. It tasted like nothing. She tossed it. It smashed upon the perfectly cleaned ground. The flower came next, and Valaena could smell the scent of it. It was sweet, but didn't cheer her. Blackwall dropped the flower to the ground and took Valaena's hands in his. He rubbed his thumbs over her palms, and she looked at him. Concern had overtaken his handsome features, and Valaena was sorry for making him worry. "You didn't have to follow me." She spoke quietly.  
"Oh, but I did. I've seen enough panic attacks." His voice was tender as his touch.  
"You didn't. I've dealt with enough on my own. But... thank you." She mumbled. There were no good feelings left, now. Not after that confrontation, not after the Darkspawn lurking under the tables and in the corners. She knew they weren't real, but they had served to make her panic grow. "If I didn't follow the woman I love, while she's feeling this way, what kind of man would I be?" He said, even as his own negative thoughts began to swirl.  
"Not the one I said you were in there." Valaena gave a ghost of a smile. "I don't want to go back in. I've made myself a fool, and embarassed the Inquisition. I can't believe you laid hands on the King of Ferelden for me."  
"Believe me when I tell you, they have this handled. The Inquisitor, Leliana and Josephine, as well as Madame de Fer and Varric? As much as I dislike Lady Vivienne, she knows how to handle Orlesians as good as Jahaerys' advisors. Varric could talk the legs of a horse, and charm a highwayman out of robbing him. I'd do more than lay my hand on a King for you." Blackwall told Valaena seriously.  
"I suppose... The Wardens have already done damage to themselves that I couldn't make any worse." She laughed, even though her eyes were still sad.  
"Aye." He smiled at her, and she was charmed enough to stand. "Shall we dance, my Lady?" He held his hand out to Valaena, with the other behind his back.  
"Oh, a proper gentleman tonight? I suppose I could..." She took his hand, and they danced to the music that slowly wafted out through the open doors of the mansion. Light from inside barely reached them, but they could still be seen from the front steps.

If Valaena had looked up, she would have seen Alistair leaning against one of the columns surrounding the great doors, watching her swirl about the yard in Blackwall's arms. "That could have been you." Leliana told him from behind. "But you didn't listen to her when she told you about Anora's treatment of her. About how she would linger and wait for you, only for you to ignore her when you saw her- or worse, not see her at all and fall asleep by Anora's side."  
Alistair said nothing, Leliana was right. He thought it had only been Valaena overreacting. Now, he's lost her for good.


End file.
